Voyager: Around The World On One Tank of Fuel
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2017
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How two pilots, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, became the first to fly non-stop around the world without refuelling in December 1986. Their experimental aircraft was designed by Dick's brother, Burt Rutan. It had to be incredibly light to carry the huge weight of fuel required. But that meant the plane was vulnerable to breaking up in turbulence. Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager endured storms and equipment malfunctions to set the world record. They spent 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds in the air. Alex Last speaks to Dick Rutan about their achievement. Photo: The Voyager aircraft designed by Burt Rutan (NASA).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
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| 1:04.7 | sounds hello and thank you for downloading the witness podcast from the |
| 1:09.2 | BBC World Service with me Alex Last and today we take you back to December |
| 1:14.4 | 1986 and one of the last great records in aviation history when Dick |
| 1:20.0 | Rutan and Gina Yeager became the first to fly a plane non-stop around the world without refueling. |
| 1:27.0 | I like to think that the adventure is the essence of life and never turned out an |
| 1:36.7 | opportunity to do something or go where no man has gone before. |
| 1:42.0 | But the flying airplane non-stop, non-refueled around the total planet was |
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