The Frontiers of Flight - The Last Great World Record (1992) Rutan Voyager Part 4/4

it became apparent that the airplane there was something wrong if we look at the fuel flow data to the engines it looked okay looked on on speed you know right at any given time we could see that he's burning eight gallons an hour for example that was good data and it was favorable but if we look at what was supposed to be our way of determining how much fuel there was in the engine or in the airplane and that was well as we pumped it into this header tank we measured going in and then we knew how much was in the header tank so by measuring how much we took out of each tank we knew how much was in each tank and therefore knew how heavy the airplane was how much fuel it had those numbers didn't agree those numbers said we've got a problem we're using too much fuel it was alarming information that threatened the success of the flight and it also caused some hard feelings between Bert and dick Rutan dick was flying higher than he should have he was flying he was going around whether he even turned back once he circled once and and he had to rich in the engines and he ran the he ran the the front engine much longer than we thought was going to be needed and we were thinking that he was flying the airplane sloppy and using too much fuel that kind of opinion wasn't calculated to keep dick calm and contented with the crew becoming more and more fatigued discretion was essential there were times during the flight in which it was deemed by the doctor and by everyone else talk to them we've got to be talked to they're there they're bored to where they're to where they need someone to talk to they need emotional support they need encouragement get on the radio everybody get in there and talk to them there were other times during the flight when the word was there extremely irritable don't talk to them I mean one of the most constructive things we did was keep bird off the radio because he would you may immediately become very technical and very logical or whatever and it just wasn't in time for that and he and dick would start fighting so after a while we took him in the office and kind of pounded on him and stay away go home do whatever stay off the radio approaching the Philippines a major problem occurred the autopilot essential to the voyagers fly ability failed Gina had to work her way under the instrument panel to wire in the backup system while dick continued to fly the airplane that was one problem fixed but the fuel consumption question remained we studied the data of the fuel flow indication and we studied the fuel system and what was interesting was simultaneously on board the airplane and on the ground we both figured out what was possibly happening there and then dick saw the bubbles running backwards very slowly in the fuel line and sure enough we were sending fuel back to the fuel tanks that was not being measured now wonderful news we've got more fuel than we think we do bad news nobody know how much but that was the least of dickin jeana's worries they had reached one of the most critical stages of the journey there were five days into the flight the front engine was shut down and Gina was at the controls they were approaching Africa since the beginning of the flight their weather expert lens knellman had been saying that africa's weather would be impassable and at the point the voyager was crossing there was political turmoil on the ground there was a real possibility of a SAM missile or a stray bullet bringing the journey to an end and then the climb began for most of the journey Voyager had been flying at about 10,000 feet now they were forced to double that altitude to avoid the high mountains in front of them back in Mojave the weather people watched great storms forming in the rift valley and passed on directions for avoiding them but dick took his own direct route across the north side of Lake Victoria trying to avoid the storm clouds they climbed to 20,000 feet and at one point Jeana passed out from lack of oxygen dick Clarke she was dead he began to have hallucinations of his own to gain altitude that had to restart the front engine with two engines running the noise was deafening the electronic noise cancellation system had failed early in the flight and the only things that saved them from permanent hearing loss were the form-fitting headphones that blocked out the worst of the sound waves Africa was a nightmare but once past the mountains they began to descend and as they crossed the coastline and headed out into the Atlantic the hard-nosed dick Rutan found himself weeping but after six days of constant noise lack of sleep equipment failure and confinement in a space the size of a phone booth there were still only two-thirds of the way around the world and then the weather struck they were in the middle of a thunderstorm it took hold of the Voyager and began doe there was nothing dick or Gino could do then suddenly they were through the store and dick had to use all his fighter pilots skill to bring the voyager back to straight and level flight they've been some bad moments for dick during the flight at high altitude over Africa he'd elucidated that the instrument panel was bulging about to explode outwards now off the coast of South America extreme fatigue drove him to his lowest point he could no longer recognize the instruments Gina took over after three hours sleep dick was okay and he was back in the seat when the next disaster struck flying up the Mexican coast of fuel pump failed when the back engine quit you know the last night out and the airplane started to go down we stopped being able to communicate with them and I remember I was talking on a microphone and they disappeared and I thought well that's it I'm not gonna see them again and I knew all he had to do was pull the nose up and Phil would flow back to the engine and he knew he had to keep the nose down to keep the speed the wind blowing the propeller around so it was a real conflict and we all get a little bit about that and then when the front engine started he immediately pulled the nose up the back engine started and then they started coming back now they needed just 28 gallons of fuel to fly home but to get it they had to replumb the fuel pumps Gina got the tools together and cleared the space for dick to make the switch he was worried that there might be some stray fuel lying around and a spark could ignite it there was a maze of plastic tubing and Gina held a flashlight while dick moved a line from one pump to another but when they finished it didn't work then they remembered another valve they changed it and fuel started to flow again we finally got down to where we had enough fuel in the header tank back to Edwards just enough we were sucking little bits of fuel out of where we could find them bringing the level up up to that magic 13 gallons that we needed in the header tank to get home as soon as that happened enormous relief the airplanes gonna make it Burt Rutan and Mike Melville flew out in the dark morning to meet the Voyager and welcome at home we made a turn when we looked over there and we saw a flashing beacon and we said we think that's you turn off here you think in life and they did and went off to turn it back on and for some reason we just all having tears it was really something screwed us while showman dick showed up at the last time after all this being exhausted and what they've been through here comes showman dick was the velvet arm he has to do a low Ponce and then he has to do another one and we've got come on dick land it just get on the ground forget it I think the program could not have been successful without two people like dick and Gina in spite of the fact that they didn't get along you know in their love affair collapsed professionally they did very well they really were a good support team for each other you know I I'd like to have dreams that maybe I could have done a flag like that but I believe I'm as good a pilot but I'm not I don't have the determination and I think that I doubt that dick even has the full determination I think it was Gina that had the absolutely unstoppable determination that she was going to do this thing and she didn't care if she died trying that was what she was going to do and I really believe that's why they succeeded the Voyager and its crew had made it around the world unrefueled no one had even come close before dick and Gina went their separate ways and the Voyager was presented to the National Air and Space Museum

Channel: Alejandro Irausquin

Views: 34,303

Keywords: Voyager, Rutan, Burt, Dick, Yeager, Jeana, Mike, Sally, Melvill, Evans, Bruce, Record, RTW, Discovery

Id: shlhQLw6jOg

Length: 11min 34sec (694 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 28 2011