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The Rutan Model 76 Voyager was the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. It was piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. The flight took off from Edwards Air Force Base's 15,000 foot (4,600 m) long runway in the Mojave Desert on December 14, 1986, and ended 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds later on December 23, setting a flight endurance record. The aircraft flew westerly 26,366 statute miles (42,432 km; the FAI accredited distance is 40,212 km)〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Official FAI database )〕 at an average altitude of 11,000 feet (3,350 m). This broke a previous flight distance record set by a United States Air Force crew piloting a Boeing B-52 that flew 12,532 miles (20,168 km) in 1962. ==Design and development== The aircraft was first imagined by Jeana Yeager, Dick Rutan, and Dick's brother Burt Rutan as they were at lunch in 1981. The initial idea was first sketched out on the back of a napkin. Voyager was built in Mojave, California, over a period of five years. The Voyager was built mainly by a group of volunteers working under both the Rutan Aircraft Factory and an organization set up under the name Voyager Aircraft. The airframe, largely made of fiberglass, carbon fiber, and Kevlar, weighed 939 pounds (426 kg) when empty. With the engines included, the unladen weight of the plane was 2250 lb (1020.6 kg). However, when it was fully loaded before the historic flight, it weighed 9,694.5 pounds (4,397 kg) due to the large amount of fuel required for the long-distance flight.〔(Rutan VoyagerSmithsonian National Air and Space Museum )〕 The aircraft had an estimated lift to drag ratio (L/D) of 27.〔David Noland, "Steve Fossett and Burt Rutan's Ultimate Solo: Behind the Scenes," ''Popular Mechanics'', Feb. 2005 ((web version ))〕 The canard and wing airfoils were custom designed and the aircraft was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics.〔Lednicer, David, "A VSAERO Analysis of Several Canard Configured Aircraft," SAE paper 881485, presented at the SAE Aerospace Technology Conference and Exposition, Anaheim, California, October 1988.〕 Vortex generators were added to the canard, to reduce sensitivity to surface contamination.〔Bragg, M.B. and Gregorek, G.M., "An Experimental Study of a High Performance Canard Airfoil with Boundary Layer Trip and Vortex Generators," AIAA Paper No. 86-0781-CP, The 14th Aerodynamic Testing Conference Publication, March 1986.〕 Voyager had front and rear propellers, powered by separate engines. It was originally flown on June 22, 1984 powered by Lycoming O-235 engines with fixed-pitch propellers.〔Yeager 1987, p. 107.〕 In November 1985, the aircraft was rolled out, fitted with the world-flight engines, an air-cooled Teledyne Continental O-240 in the forward location and a liquid-cooled Teledyne Continental IOL-200 in the aft location.〔Yeager 1987, p. 121.〕 Both were fitted with electrically actuated MT-Propellers.〔Yeager 1987, p. 124.〕 The plan was for the rear engine to be operated throughout the flight. The front engine was intended to provide additional power for takeoff and the initial part of the flight at heavy weights. On July 15, 1986, Rutan and Yeager completed a test flight, off of the coast of California, in which they flew for 111 hours and 44 minutes, traveling 11,857 statute miles (19,093 km)〔Yeager 1987, p. 181.〕 breaking the previous record held by a production Canadair CP-107 Argus of the RCAF. The first attempt at this flight was marred by the failure of a propeller pitch change motor and they had to make an emergency landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base.〔Yeager 1987, p. 166.〕 On a test flight on September 29, 1986, the airplane had to make an emergency landing due to a propeller blade departing the aircraft.〔Yeager 1987, p. 198.〕 As a result, a decision was made to switch to Hartzell hydraulically actuated propellers.〔Yeager 1987, p. 209.〕 In a crash program, Hartzell made custom propellers for the aircraft, which were first flown on November 15, 1986.〔Yeager 1987, p. 213.〕〔Roncz, John G., "Propeller Development for the Rutan Voyager," SAE paper 891034, presented at the SAE General Aviation Aircraft Meeting & Exposition, Wichita, Kansas, April 1989.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rutan Voyager」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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