Jeana Yeager is an aviator

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

. She is most famous for co-piloting a non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager aircraft from 14 to 23 December 1986. The flight took 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds and covered 24,986 miles (40,211 km), more than doubling the old distance record set by a Boeing B-52 bomber

Bomber

A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

 in 1962. In recognition of this achievement, she received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Reagan (1986), the Harmon Trophy

Harmon Trophy

The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to the world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix , and aeronaut...

, the FAI

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...

 De la Vaulx Medal

De la Vaulx Medal

The De la Vaulx Medal is an aviation award presented by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale , the international aviation standard setting and record-keeping body...

, and is the first woman to have received the Collier Trophy

Collier Trophy

The Collier Trophy is an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautics Association , presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space...

. She also received Edward Longstreth Medal from the Franklin Institute

Franklin Institute

The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...

 in 1988.

Jeana is not related to Charles "Chuck" Yeager

Chuck Yeager

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager is a retired major general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. He was the first pilot to travel faster than sound...

, the famous test pilot.

Early life

Yeager grew up in Commerce, Texas

Commerce, Texas

Commerce is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States, located in rural East Texas. The population was 7,669 at the 2000 census, however recent growth and its proximity to Interstate 30 and the eastern Metroplex has put the population around 9750...

. Her early hobbies included horseback riding and track running, and she also developed an interest in helicopters. She studied drafting

Technical drawing

Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....

 at Commerce High School, a skill that would prove valuable later in designing the first-round-the-world aircraft. Yeager graduated from Commerce High School in 1970. When Yeager was 19, she married a police officer, but the two were divorced after five years of marriage.

In 1977 she gave up on her failing marriage and settled in Santa Rosa, California

Santa Rosa, California

Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...

, performing drafting and surveying for a company specialising in geothermal energy. At age 26, she earned her private pilot license

Pilot licensing and certification

Pilot licensing or certification refers to permits to fly aircraft that are issued by the National Aviation Authority in each country, establishing that the holder has met a specific set of knowledge and experience requirements. This includes taking a flying test. The certified pilot can then...

, her ultimate ambition being to fly helicopters.

Yeager became involved in experimental aerospace design when she met Bob Truax

Robert Truax

Captain Robert C. Truax was a rocket engineer in the United States Navy, and companies such as Aerojet and Truax Engineering, which he founded...

 at about the time she received her pilot license. Truax was a rocket scientist and was developing a fully reusable spacecraft at a company called Project Private Enterprise. Yeager was hired to perform drafting for Truax at his company. She also volunteered to be a test subject in sub-orbital flights, but none took place.

Association with the Rutans

Yeager first met Dick Rutan and his brother Burt

Burt Rutan

Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft...

, at an air show in Chino, California

Chino, California

Chino is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is located in the western end of the Riverside-San Bernardino Area and it is easily accessible via the Chino Valley and Pomona freeways....

 in 1980. At the time, Burt and Dick ran their own aircraft company, Rutan Aircraft Factory (now Scaled Composites

Scaled Composites

Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...

). Dick Rutan had flown combat missions in Vietnam

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, was 14 years older than Yeager, and was a featured aerobatic flyer at the show. At that time he was chief test pilot for Burt Rutan's aircraft company, based in California's Mojave desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

. Yeager and Dick Rutan became romantically involved, and Yeager joined him to work as a pilot for Burt Rutan's company, flying Rutan aircraft. Yeager set four separate speed records in Rutan EZ

Rutan Long-EZ

-See also:-External links:****...

 planes in the early 1980s.
It was Yeager who named the globe-circling project and the planned airplane "Voyager". She drafted the engineering drawings and ran the operation that kept the project financially viable. At the outset of the project, Yeager and the Voyager team managed almost entirely on donations from private individuals. Yeager underwent extensive training in ocean navigation and communications before the trip, and acted as the copilot and navigator. She also went on an Air Force water-survival training course and was one of the first civilians to successfully do so. She also qualified for a commercial pilot license, and multi-engine and instrument ratings.

After the "Round the World" flight

Following the flight of Voyager, Yeager and Rutan traveled around the world on a lecture tour of the project, which helped them cover the costs connected with their pioneering flight, estimated to be $250,000.

Yeager and Rutan's relationship fell apart after their historic flight. Yeager married Bill Williams, whose company marketed Microlon, an engine oil treatment. Yeager endorsed the oil additive in an advertisement which claimed that Voyager lost all oil in the rear engine over the coast of Africa but was "still purring" two hours later." Dick Rutan sued Yeager, claiming misappropriation of Voyager funds but dropped the lawsuit when he discovered that she was declaring bankruptcy and earning only $400 a month as a ranch hand.