The Voyager aircraft was designed and fabricated
for a single mission: Fly around the world non-stop non-refueled.
The structural weight would need to be as low as possible
in order to accommodate the fuel required for such a mission.
Although the Voyager was not a Scaled Composites project,
it was designed by our present CEO Burt Rutan. It was constructed
by the Rutan Aircraft Factory and Voyager Aircraft.
The configuration selected was a twin engine
pusher-tractor tandem wing vehicle with twin booms connecting
the tip of the forward wing through the center wing terminating
at the vertical fin. The cabin was only large enough to
accommodate the crew of two and provisions for the estimated
9 day flight.
Structural sample testing was conducted as
the first step in the program to determine the lightest
materials and fabrication processes available appropriate
to the vehicle requirements. It was determined that .010-inch
graphite tape skins, with 1/4-inch Nomex honeycomb core
would provide adequate structure, and, with suitable application
of film adhesive, would also be an adequate fuel barrier.
The spars were made from graphite tape and Nomex cores,
and were autoclave-cured by an outside vendor.
The result was an airplane with a structural
weight/gross weight fraction of only 9%; significantly lower
than any existing man-rated airplane. This was key to the
Voyager's success, because the amount of fuel carried, in
relation to the vehicle's takeoff weight, had the strongest
influence on range.
To say that Voyager was a success would be
an understatement. Not only did it perform an aviation "first",
it more than doubled the existing absolute range record
for airplanes on its 9-day long flight.
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