Get the latest tech news

Dick Rutan, co-pilot of historic round-the-world flight, has died

Rutan, known for smooth flying style, survived having to eject twice from planes and being stranded at north pole

A decorated Vietnam war pilot, Dick Rutan died Friday evening at a hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, with Burt and other loved ones by his side. Both Rutan brothers and Yeager were awarded Presidential Citizens medals by President Ronald Reagan, who 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. Burt Rutan said his brother was always having adventures, like the time he got stranded at the north pole for a couple of days when the Russian biplane he was in landed and then sank through the ice.

Get the Android app