# Jeana Yeager
**Jeana Yeager** (born 1952, [Fort Worth, Texas](https://www.edgepedia.org/fort-worth-texas)) is an American aviator who, with pilot [Dick Rutan](https://www.edgepedia.org/dick-rutan), flew the [Rutan Voyager](https://www.edgepedia.org/rutan-voyager) aircraft on the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world, from December 14 to 23, 1986[1](https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/jeana-yeager) • [2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling). She is no relation to the test pilot Chuck Yeager[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Fort Worth, Texas, 1952; private pilot's license by 1978[1](https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/jeana-yeager) |
| Signature flight | Voyager circumnavigation, Edwards AFB to Edwards AFB, December 14–23, 1986, 9 days 3 min 44 sec[2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling) |
| FAI record distance | 40,212.14 km, ratified as a world distance record, later retired by changes to the sporting code[4](https://www-2025.fai.org/record/8388) |
| Role in the project | Co-founder of Voyager Aircraft Inc. (March 1981); helped build the aircraft and flew all but three of its 65 test flights[5](https://www.wai.org/phof-directory/jeana-yeager) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-15-mn-2975-story.html) |
| Records held | Nine aviation speed and endurance records before the 1986 landing, four of them in Voyager[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html) |
| Honors | Collier Trophy (with Burt Rutan, Dick Rutan, and crew chief Bruce Evans); Presidential Citizens Medal; Franklin Institute award, 1988; Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame, 1992[7](https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/NASM.2000.0054.pdf) • [1](https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/jeana-yeager) • [5](https://www.wai.org/phof-directory/jeana-yeager) |
## Early life and aviation career
Yeager grew up in Texas as the daughter of a public schoolteacher in a small town near Dallas, worked in Houston as a mechanical draftsman, and moved to [Santa Rosa, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-rosa-california), in 1977, where she studied energy, aerospace design, and commercial engineering draftsmanship[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html) • [5](https://www.wai.org/phof-directory/jeana-yeager). She earned her private pilot's license in 1978, and her early aviation interest was learning to fly helicopters before she turned to high-performance aircraft[1](https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/jeana-yeager) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html).
In California she worked for Bob Truax, a retired Navy captain and engineer attempting a privately funded manned spacecraft, and at one point she was asked to consider flying aboard the planned craft[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html). She met Dick Rutan at an air show in Chino in 1980, and the two became partners in both life and the project[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html).
## The Voyager project
In March 1981 Yeager and Rutan founded Voyager Aircraft Inc., and she devoted herself exclusively to building, testing, developing, and flying the Voyager for the around-the-world attempt[5](https://www.wai.org/phof-directory/jeana-yeager). The aircraft was designed by [Burt Rutan](https://www.edgepedia.org/burt-rutan), Dick's brother, whose company [Scaled Composites](https://www.edgepedia.org/scaled-composites) constructed it[2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling). The project ran on modest means: a core of roughly 45 volunteers, family members, and aviation professionals, with only four paid staff, supported by private contributions and souvenir sales at Hangar 77 in Mojave[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-18-mn-4087-story.html).
Yeager flew in all but three of the Voyager's 65 test flights and set speed records in two other aircraft designed by Burt Rutan[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-15-mn-2975-story.html). On the world flight her assigned duties included pumping fuel between the plane's 17 fuel tanks to maintain stability, a task described as particularly critical immediately after takeoff, when even a slight imbalance in the heavy fuel load could have been disastrous[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-15-mn-2975-story.html). She trained for long over-water flying with a trip to Australia, and was among the first civilians to complete the Air Force's water survival training course[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html).
## The 1986 world flight
Voyager departed [Edwards Air Force Base](https://www.edgepedia.org/edwards-air-force-base), California, on the morning of December 14, 1986, and returned nine days later, touching down at 8:05 a.m. PST on December 23 after 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds in the air[2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling) • [9](https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/rutan-voyager). The FAI-accredited distance was 40,212.14 km, flown at an average of 186.11 km/h (115.65 mph)[4](https://www-2025.fai.org/record/8388) • [2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling).
The flight was far from routine. Voyager lost its winglets on and just after takeoff, met a typhoon, was flipped to a 90-degree bank by thunderstorms, and suffered fuel starvation in one engine[9](https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/rutan-voyager). Hours before landing, the rear engine, then the only one running, failed over the Pacific off [Baja California](https://www.edgepedia.org/baja-california) about 450 miles short of the goal; the plane fell 3,500 feet before the front engine, shut off earlier to conserve fuel, was restarted[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-23-mn-319-story.html). Yeager spent less time at the controls than Rutan but was described by contemporaries as a superb flier; her father-in-law-to-be George Rutan recounted her landing a small plane dead-stick on a freeway after a propeller broke just after takeoff in a cross-country race[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html).
President Reagan, who watched the landing on television, called the flight "magnificent, absolutely magnificent"[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-23-mn-319-story.html).
## The aircraft and its technology
Voyager was built to solve one problem: flying the maximum circumference of the globe on a single load of fuel. It took off with 4,576 liters (1,006.6 gal) of fuel weighing 3,180.4 kg, and its wing span was 33.77 m (110 ft 10 in)[2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling). More than 90 percent of the airplane was graphite fiber and graphite composite material, reducing the empty shell to less than 1,000 pounds; Burt Rutan estimated that each additional pound of structural weight would have required an extra six pounds of fuel[11](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/12/24/plane-points-to-brave-new-world-of-composites/e5c373cc-26ae-437a-bce2-ee0f15c05c18/). The design combined lightweight composites, a forward-wing (canard) layout, and special airfoils, with pusher and tractor propellers at the stern and bow of the fuselage[11](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/12/24/plane-points-to-brave-new-world-of-composites/e5c373cc-26ae-437a-bce2-ee0f15c05c18/) • [12](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19890009042/downloads/19890009042.pdf?attachment=true).
The crew's working space was correspondingly minimal: the piloting cockpit measured 1.71 x 0.55 m and the off-duty crew member's cabin 2.29 x 0.61 m[2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling). During the flight, Voyager carried a 1.5-pound prototype COSPAS/SARSAT search-and-rescue beacon transmitting on 406 MHz and 121.5 MHz frequencies, monitored by the international rescue system[13](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1986-1990.pdf?emrc=8b8b8b).
## Recognition and later years
Yeager, Burt Rutan, Dick Rutan, and crew chief Bruce Evans won the [Collier Trophy](https://www.edgepedia.org/collier-trophy) for the flight, described by the Smithsonian as one of aviation's last "firsts"[7](https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/NASM.2000.0054.pdf). Yeager also received the Presidential Citizens Medal[1](https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/jeana-yeager), the [Franklin Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/franklin-institute)'s award in engineering in 1988 "for piloting The Voyager"[1](https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/jeana-yeager), and induction into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame in 1992[5](https://www.wai.org/phof-directory/jeana-yeager).
On the first anniversary of the flight, Voyager was dedicated and suspended in the south lobby of the [National Air and Space Museum](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-air-and-space-museum) in Washington, DC, where the aircraft remains[9](https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/rutan-voyager) • [2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling). Yeager and Rutan co-authored the book *Voyager* with Phil Patton, published by Knopf in 1987, and spent the following year on a heavy schedule of tours, book signings, and appearances[7](https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/NASM.2000.0054.pdf) • [14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-14-vw-19271-story.html). Both later said the six years of project pressure had ended their personal relationship, though they remained partners in the achievement[14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-14-vw-19271-story.html).
## References
1. [Jeana Yeager, The Franklin Institute Awards](https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/jeana-yeager)
2. [First circumnavigation by aircraft without refuelling, Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation-by-aircraft-without-refuelling)
3. [Jeana Yeager Was Not Just Along for the Ride, Los Angeles Times (Dec. 24, 1986)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-24-mn-236-story.html)
4. [Richard G. Rutan (USA), record 8388, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://www-2025.fai.org/record/8388)
5. [Jeana Yeager, Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame](https://www.wai.org/phof-directory/jeana-yeager)
6. [At a Glance: The Voyager Pilots, Los Angeles Times (Dec. 15, 1986)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-15-mn-2975-story.html)
7. [Voyager Around the World Flight Collection, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum](https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/NASM.2000.0054.pdf)
8. ['Ground Crew' Keeps Busy at Mojave Hangar, Los Angeles Times (Dec. 18, 1986)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-18-mn-4087-story.html)
9. [The Rutan Voyager, National Air and Space Museum](https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/rutan-voyager)
10. [Voyager Flies Home, Lands in the Pages of Air History, Los Angeles Times (Dec. 23, 1986)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-23-mn-319-story.html)
11. [Plane Points to Brave New World of Composites, The Washington Post (Dec. 24, 1986)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/12/24/plane-points-to-brave-new-world-of-composites/e5c373cc-26ae-437a-bce2-ee0f15c05c18/)
12. [World Flight, the Voyager, Society of Experimental Test Pilots Symposium Proceedings, 1987 (NASA NTRS)](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19890009042/downloads/19890009042.pdf?attachment=true)
13. [Astronautics and Aeronautics, September 1986, NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1986-1990.pdf?emrc=8b8b8b)
14. [Shattering the Myth: Voyager Couple Talk About Their Breakup, Los Angeles Times (Dec. 14, 1987)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-14-vw-19271-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Transport and spaceflight › Aviation › Aviation history, people, and culture › Pioneering flights and records › Aviation records › Circumnavigation and round-the-world record flights*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
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