Dick Rutan, copilot of first round-the-world nonstop flight without refueling, dead at 85

Dick Rutan, who with copilot Jeana Yeager completed the first round-the-world flight without stops or refueling, died Friday. He was 85.

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Rutan, a decorated Vietnam War pilot, died at a hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, with his brother Burt and other loved ones by his side, according to The Associated Press. His friend, Bill Whittle, told the news organization that Rutan died on “his own terms” after deciding not to spend a second night on oxygen after suffering a severe lung infection.

“He played an airplane like someone plays a grand piano,” Burt Rutan told the news organization about his brother.

Born July 1, 1938, Dick Rutan was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2002.

He took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California on Dec. 14, 1986, flying the Voyager, an aircraft designed by his brother.

Rutan said that the plane, loaded with fuel, meant that the aircraft had only inches of clearance.

But Rutan guided the plane to a successful takeoff, and he and Yeager copiloted the plane and landed safely nine days and three minutes later, according to the AP.

The Rutan brothers and Yeager were each awarded a Presidential Citizens Medal by President Ronald Reagan, the news organization reported. Reagan described how a local official in Thailand at first “refused to believe some cockamamie story” about a plane flying around the world on 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 should never forget, and those that guard our freedoms, that we should hang on to them very tenaciously and be very careful about some do-gooder that thinks that our safety is more important than our freedom. Because freedom is awful difficult to obtain, and it’s even more difficult to regain it once it’s lost.”

Dick Rutan flew 325 combat missions during the Vietnam War, according to the National Aviation Hall of Fame. He was awarded a Silver Star, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 16 Air Medals and a Purple Heart.

He was part of an elite group that would loiter over enemy anti-aircraft positions for several hours. The missions were dubbed “Misty,” and Dick Rutan was known as “Misty Four-Zero,” according to a news release.

He retired from the Air Force with the rank of lieutenant colonel and later worked as a test pilot, the reported.

Jack Pelton, chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association, said Rutan was a major contributor to the organization and aviation.

“Dick Rutan is closely linked with EAA history for the past half-century,” Pelton said. “Whether it was the flights of canard aircraft to Oshkosh back in the 1970s, the unforgettable Voyager project and mission in the 1980s, or his trips to AirVenture for forum presentations almost every year, Dick Rutan was a true friend of EAA and AirVenture. We will miss him and remember him, and our condolences go to his family at this time.”

“He’s the greatest pilot that’s ever lived,” Whittle told the AP.

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