The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) marked the passing of acclaimed pilot and aviation pioneer Dick Rutan. “We join with our global aviation community in mourning the loss of a true aviation trailblazer,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “Dick Rutan was a legend who will be profoundly missed.”
In December 1986, Rutan and Jeana Yeager became the first pilots to fly nonstop around the world without refueling. They accomplished this flight in the Rutan Model 76 Voyager, an advanced, all-composite aircraft designed by Rutan’s brother, Burt.
The following year, NBAA honored Yeager and Rutan with the association’s prestigious Meritorious Service to Aviation award. The global circumnavigation also earned the duo, along with Burt Rutan and the Voyager team, the 1986 Collier Trophy.
Rutan also was a decorated U.S. Air Force veteran, performing 325 combat missions over Vietnam as a “FastFAC” forward air controller in the F-100 Super Sabre. For his service, Rutan was awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, the Air Medal with three silver oak leaf clusters and two Distinguished Flying Crosses.
He retired from the Air Force in 1978 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In civilian life, Rutan was a 1992 congressional candidate from California, and he often served as a record-setting test pilot for his brother’s latest aircraft designs.
Rutan died Friday, May 3, at the age of 85.
