The front engine was intended to provide additional power for takeoff and the initial part of the flight under heavy load.

On July 15, 1986, Dick Rutan and Yeager completed a test flight off the coast of California, in which they flew for 111 hours and 44 minutes, traveling 11,857 statute miles (19,082 km) in twenty circuits between San Luis Obispo and Stewarts Point,[12][13] breaking the previous record held since 28 May 1931 by a Bellanca CH-300 fitted with a Packard DR-980 diesel engine, piloted by Walter Edwin Lees and Frederic Brossy which had set a record by staying aloft for 84 hours and 32 minutes without being refueled.

The first attempt at the Voyager test flight was ended by the failure of a propeller pitch-change motor that resulted in an emergency landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

[14] On a test flight on September 29, 1986, the airplane had to make an emergency landing due to a propeller blade departing the aircraft.

The aircraft accelerated very slowly and needed approximately 14,200 feet (2.7 mi; 4.3 km) of the runway to gain enough speed to lift from the ground, the wings arching up dramatically just before take-off.

Burt Rutan following with pilot Mike Melvill determined that Voyager was still within its performance specifications despite the damage and decided to allow the flight to continue.

[20] Libya denied access to the country's airspace in response to Operation El Dorado Canyon earlier that year.

There were contentious radio conversations between the Rutan brothers as Dick flew around weather and, at one time, turned around and began doubling back.

In front of 55,000 spectators and a large press contingent, including 23 live feeds breaking into scheduled broadcasting across Europe and North America, the plane safely came back to earth, touching down at 8:06 a.m. at the same airfield 9 days after take-off.