The Sweeney Agency

Voyager Aircraft’s non-stop and un-refueled flight around the world in December of 1986 placed Mojave proudly on the map and secured the inspirational Dick Rutan a place in the history books. Four days following the historic flight of the Voyager, President Ronald Reagan awarded Mr. Rutan the Presidential Citizen’s Medal of Honor at a special ceremony. The medal has been presented only sixteen times in the history of the United States.

In December of 2005, Dick Rutan set another world record in his EZ-Rocket for the longest distance in a ground launched rocket powered aircraft. He flew from the Mojave Spaceport to the California City Airport. It was touted as the world's shortest long distance flight. On board that flight, Dick carried mail to be delivered to California City, as well as American flag patches and flight covers that would be sold to raise money for The Dick Rutan Scholarship Fund, a fund that awards multiple scholarships each year. In April of 2006, he was awarded the National Aeronautics Association Most Memorable Flight of 2005 award in Washington, DC for the Mojave Spaceport flight. For that same record setting flight, he was awarded the Louis Bleriot Medal in November of 2006. This prestigious medal was established in 1936 in memory of Louis Bleriot, a great aviation pioneer.

Dick Rutan received both his solo pilot’s license and driver’s license on his sixteenth birthday. At the age of nineteen, he joined the Air Force Aviation Cadet Program, was commission Lieutenant and later received a Bachelor of Science Degree at the American Technological University through the Air Force Professional Education “Boot Strap” Program. As a Tactical Air Command fighter pilot during most of his two decades in the Air Force, Mr. Rutan flew 325 combat missions in Vietnam, 105 of them as a member of a high-risk classified operation commonly known as the MISTY’s. While on his last strike reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam in September of 1968, he was hit by enemy ground fire, and forced to eject from his burning F-100. He evaded enemy capture and was later rescued by an Air Force helicopter team. Before retiring from the Air Force in 1978, Lt. Col. Rutan had been awarded the Silver Star, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 16 Air Medals and the Purple Heart.

In June of 2003, he became an Eagle at the Gathering of Eagles in Montgomery, Alabama. This prestigious honor was his in 1988, two years after the Voyager flight, and they brought him back for a second induction to honor his service in the Air Force. He will join the ranks with aviation and space greats including Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad, and other flyers that include Pappy Boyington, Joe Engle, and many others.

Since Voyager’s world flight, Mr. Rutan has been traveling the world on the lecture circuit, telling his tale of the magnificent Voyager project. The Voyager story is one of tremendous courage, of vision, and of adventure and is often referred to as aviation’s last first.

In July of 2002, Mr. Rutan was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. This esteemed enshrinement honored him and three other Americans whose heroism helped define 20th Century America.

What Dick Rutan Talks About:

Around And Out Of This World:
Dick Rutan remembers his very first aviation adventure vividly. He was six years old when he and his mother went to an old farm field for a true barnstorming ride. Mom Rutan was armed with a fist full of hard-earned dollar bills. The duo climbed into the old plane and he begged his mother to allow him to stand so he could see out of the window. The little plane hopped and skipped down an old bumpy dirt road and suddenly was airborne. As he saw the earth beneath him, his view of how he wanted to see the world was changed forever. Mr. Rutan’s narration about his career in the Air Force, Voyager's flight around the world, a second world flight in a homebuilt, record setting in a rocket powered airplane, being stranded on the North Pole, and many other adventures will keep your audience on the edge of their seats!

Dream, Believe, Accomplish:
Dick Rutan shares his experience with believing in one’s self and one’s team. His view of setting goals and sub goals and reaching toward the impossible are irresistible messages for everyone—from youth to executive, from laborer to professional, his message will spark the creative genius within! Your audience will be empowered to begin their own journey of setting and reaching goals they never believed possible. A master storyteller, his recall of his many dramatic adventures will prove that, You are limited only by what you can dream.

An Arctic Adventure
In May of 2000, Mr. Rutan was a last minute addition to a sightseeing airplane trek to the North Pole. The biplane, a Russian AN-2 Antonov, landed beautifully on the glass-like ice, but within seconds, the joyride was headed for disaster. Unseasonably thin, the ice quickly began to stress and crack under the weight of the plane. A quick power-up to 'go-around' and locate a thicker spot on the ice resulted in the aircraft suddenly dipping nose first through the ice, sinking toward the freezing ocean, and certain death. The wings of the AN-2 suspended the aircraft so the crew could retrieve their survival equipment that was packed in the rear of the sinking plane. For more than a dozen hours, the crew was stranded at the top of the world. In the distance, they heard a faint engine and soon would see the Twin Otter from First Air that would rescue them and return them to their families.