In 1981 Richard G. Rutan talked to his brother Burt about his idea of a nonstop flight the world. "I have an idea", said Richard. "Now I need a plane. But it has to be light and strong."
"How light?" asked Burt. "And how strong?"
"It has to be light to save fuel, and strong enough to resist the turbulence caused by tropical sotrms."
Burt, an innovative aircraft designer, sketched a revolutionary design on the back of a paper napkin. For 5 years, Richard G. Rutan and Jeana Yeager worked to fund, build, and fly the dream plane they called the Voyager.
Fnally on the morning of December 4th, 1986, with Richard and Jeana in the cockpit, the strange plane took off from California. NASA's satellite and communication system provided information about weather conditions every 40 minutes. The journey was nice and smooth except for one occasion when storms forced them to fly 2,000 miles farther north than planned.
On December 23rd, 1986 at 8:06 A.M. the Voyager landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in the California Desert. The exact flight time for the 25,012-mile journey was 9 days 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
The Voyager
Building material: graphite composite
Wings: 100 feet
Average speed: 115 miles per hour
Fuel capacity: 1,000 gallons in 17 tanks
Cost of the project: US$ 2 million
MARTINS, Elisabeth Prescher. New graded english. 3ª ed. reform. São Paulo: Moderna, 1997.
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