Talk:Rutan Voyager

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I heard that the pilots were no longer on speaking terms by the end of the voyage around the world. Are they friends again? It's been years. 207.250.40.114 19:14, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)

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I dunno, but I think Dick Rutan is partially deaf in one ear as a result of the flight. Perhaps Dick just couldn't hear Jeana? ;)

-Joseph

Contents 1 "Scaled Composites"? 2 Engine details 3 Who Built Voyager 4 Which way round 5 Renaming proposal

[edit] "Scaled Composites"?

The title of this article is "Scaled Composites Voyager" but Scaled's web page on the aircraft, [1] specifically says:

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.

I suggest renaming this article, e.g. "Voyager (aircraft)". - Coneslayer 17:45, 2005 Mar 4 (UTC)

[edit] Engine details

I re-worked the bit about the engines, because it didn't mention how they were used (one continuously, the other as required for takeoff and climb). The model numbers came from this page. - Coneslayer 17:59, 2005 Mar 4 (UTC)

[edit] Who Built Voyager

As I understand it, Burt Rutan designed the aircraft, but neither he nor Scaled built it. It was built by Voyager Aircraft, a corporation started by Dick and Jeana and mostly staffed by volunteers. Bruce was one of the few paid employees of Voyager Aircraft.

The line between Voyager Aircraft and Scaled Composites blurs at times. They started building it at Scaled, but later rented a large hangar on the Mojave Airport and moved into their own space. Many of the major volunteers, like Mike & Sally Melvill, were employees of Scaled Composites but were volunteering at Voyager.

Anyway, I think it's worth mentioning that Voyager was not built by Scaled Composites. Scaled certainly had the resources to construct Voyager, but the agreement between Dick and Burt was that Burt would design it, and Dick & Jeana would build it.

Voyager Aircraft was at Mojave before Scaled Composites.

[edit] Which way round

Which way round did they go. The article doesn't make this clear, SqueakBox 03:28, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

Westwards. AnonMoos 17:21, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Eddygazilion 14:42, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Renaming proposal

Given this edit [2] and its subsequent reversion, I did some checking, and found that there is clear evidence that Voyager was not built by Scaled, although Scaled personnel were involved in it. Because of this, I'm formally proposing renaming it. For the new name, I fell the Rutan Voyager is most appropriate, as it was a Rutan design, built under the RAF system, and conforms to other wikipedia articles, such as Rutan VariViggen and Rutan Long-EZ. The building of the aircraft was, in large part, a volunteer effort, and one of the many outpourings of community togetherness that is a hallmark of life at Mojave, and by attributing the aircraft to Scaled when they, as a company (which was, at the time, owned by Raytheon/Beechcraft), didn't build it, is an injustice to those who worked so hard for it. Thoughts, anyone? Akradecki 01:26, 7 January 2007 (UTC)