The State - News from Jan. 9, 1987

Voyager, the first aircraft to fly nonstop around the world without refueling, could have gone on as far as Seattle instead of landing at Edwards Air Force Base, the plane’s designer, Burt Rutan, told the Legislature. “We expected to get Voyager home with 7% of its fuel in the tank after a 25,000-mile flight,” Rutan said. “But we lost fuel because of the takeoff accident, and we lost some more because of a leaky gas tank cap. At the end, they had 18 gallons, about 1.5% of the fuel supply. It would have been enough to get them almost to Seattle.” Rutan and Voyager’s pilots, his brother, Dick, and Jeana Yeager, appeared before the Senate and Assembly, which passed resolutions honoring the epic flight last month.