Dick Rutan: Man who set aviation milestone by flying nonstop around world, dead at 85

Burt Rutan was alarmed to see that the plane he had designed was so loaded with fuel that the wingtips began to drag along the ground as it taxied down the runway. He got on the radio to warn the pilot, his older brother, Dick Rutan. But Dick never heard the message.

Nine days and three minutes later, Dick, along with co-pilot Jeana Yeager, completed one of the greatest milestones in aviation history: the first round-the-world flight without stops or refueling.

Decorated Vietnam War pilot Dick Rutan died Friday night at a hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, with Burt and other loved ones by his side. He was 85 years old. His friend Bill Whittle said he died on his own terms when he decided not to spend a second night on oxygen after suffering a serious lung infection.

“He played an airplane like someone plays a grand piano,” Burt Rutan said of his brother, who was often described as having a velvet arm because of his smooth flying style.

Burt Rutan said he always loved designing airplanes and was fascinated by the idea of ​​a craft that could fly around the world. His brother was equally passionate about flying. The project lasted six years.

There was much to worry Mr. Rutan about during the tests of the light graphite plane, Voyager. There were mechanical failures, any one of which would have been disastrous in a distant ocean. When fully loaded, the plane could not handle the turbulence. And then there was the question of how the pilots managed such a long flight on so little sleep. But Rutan said his brother had an optimism that made everyone believe.

“Dick never doubted whether my project would actually work, even with a little gas left in the tank,” said Rutan.

Voyager departed Edwards Air Force Base in California shortly after 8 a.m. on Dec. 14, 1986. Rutan said that with all that fuel, the wings only had a few inches of clearance. Dick couldn’t see as they began to crawl across the track. But the moment Rutan radioed in, copilot Yeager gave a speed report, drowning out the message.

“And then the velvet arm actually appeared,” Rutan said. “And he slowly brought the stick back and the wings folded up, about 30 feet at the wingtips, and he took off very smoothly.”

They returned to a hero’s welcome as thousands of people gathered to witness the landing. Both the Rutan and Yeager brothers each received a Presidential Citizens Medal from President Ronald Reagan, who described how a local official in Thailand at first “refused to believe some idiotic story” about a plane flying around the world with a single tank of gas.

“We had the freedom to pursue a dream, and that’s important,” Dick Rutan said at the ceremony. “And we must never forget, and those who protect our freedoms, that we must hold on to them very tenaciously and be very wary of some benefactor who thinks our security is more important than our freedom. Because freedom is terribly difficult to obtain, and it is even more difficult to regain once it is lost.

Richard Glenn Rutan was born in Loma Linda, California. He joined the U.S. Air Force as a teenager and flew more than 300 combat missions during the Vietnam War.

He was part of an elite group that roamed enemy anti-aircraft positions for hours on end. The missions had the call sign “Misty” and Dick was known as “Misty Four-Zero.” Among the many awards Dick received were the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.

He survived having to eject from planes twice, once when his F-100 Super Saber was hit by enemy fire over Vietnam, and a second time when he was stationed in England and the same type of plane had a mechanical failure. He retired from the Air Force with the rank of lieutenant colonel and began working as a test pilot.

Rutan said his brother was always having adventures, like the time he was stranded at the North Pole for a few days when the Russian biplane he was in landed and then sank into the ice.

Dick Rutan set another record in 2005 when he flew about 10 meters (16 km) in a rocket-powered plane launched from the ground in Mojave, California. It was also the first time that US mail was transported by such a plane.

Greg Morris, president of Scaled Composites, a company founded by Burt Rutan, said he met Dick when he was about seven years old and, over the years, has always found him generous and welcoming.

“Larger than life, in every sense of the word,” Morris said, listing Rutan’s legacy in the Vietnam War, airplane testing and the flight of Voyager. “Any one of these contributions would make an aviation legend. All of them together, in one person, is simply inconceivable.”

Whittle said Rutan was brave in his final hours in hospital – quick-witted, calm and joking with them about what could happen after death.

“He’s the greatest driver that ever lived,” Whittle said.

Dick Rutan is survived by his wife of 25 years, Kris Rutan; daughters Holly Hogan and Jill Hoffman; and grandchildren Jack, Sean, Noelle and Haley.