1/72 Amodel Scaled Composites Voyager Part 1

Gallery Article by Andreas Gordes, ARC member ‘Goggo’ on Dec 14 2016

 

      

December 14, 1986 the Rutan Voyager started to the first ever flight around the world, with Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager at the controls. The aircraft had been designed by Scaled Composites, with Rutan Aircraft Factory the second company of Burt Rutan.

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The design of the ‘Model 76’ considered not only a high lift/drag ratio, but also factors for a long flight like airfoil pollution and life systems for 2 humans. The biggest challenge was to fill the whole aircraft up with fuel, distributed into 17 different tanks. The aircraft had an incredible payload of 77% of the total weight of 9695 lbs. When fueled up to the maximum, the wings were only a few inches away from the ground. Above a certain point of about 7000 lbs the aircraft was unstable in lateral axis, probably a reason why Dick Rutan was on the controls for the first 3 days of the flight. The person not flying had to care for a proper trim by pumping fuel from one location to the other.

For weight reasons the aircraft lacked a lot of systems, i.e. wheel brakes. The gear was manually retracted. The larger rear engine did not have a starter, it had to be started by hand. With favorite winds the Voyager took off early in the morning 8:01 local time in Edwards AFB. During ground roll the winglets were damaged and lost. A highly modern avionics should lead the crew through this ambitious flight.

Thank you and come back in 9 days for part 2!

Andreas Gordes, ARC member ‘Goggo’

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Photos and text © by Andreas Gordes, ARC member ‘Goggo’