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Aviation History
1979
1979 - 3046.PDF
FLIGHT International, IS August 1979 : :;:t; V Burt Rutan's display trio: The Defiant twin leads his first canard design, LongEze in close-up. The nose-mounted "rhino" rudder has replaced the Vanviggen (below) and the new LongEze the VariEze's winglet-mounted rudders ties have now exempted all such machines from normal licensing re quirements, subject to a maximum weight of 4001b and various other op erating limitations. Most of the Oshkosh ultralights seem to be a grass-roots search for a low-cost way of getting airborne, rather than the hang-glider pilot's aim of self-launching for a good soaring flight. The appeal of a fuel consump tion less than one gal/hr, and the ability to take off from any reason ably smooth field without a licence or any other sort of bureaucratic harass ment, are very attractive. Even to a hardened conventional aeroplane pilot ultralights look appealing as they drone around in the calm evening air and waft down a gently curving ap proach to a walking-pace landing. Most of the types on display are being marketed as kits. Some of the brochures make a pretty deliberate appeal to the old dream of personal flying for everyone. Some sample phrases: "The dream is real ... the convenience of a bicycle, a carnival of fun, and the freedom of a bird . . . modern flying has never been like this . . . your playground is the sky above you ... a recreational flying op portunity for every sportsman." They rarely point out the limitations of minimal power and climb rate, a 35-40 m.p.h. cruising airspeed and marginal control in a summer afternoon's tur bulence. But, to be fair, some manu facturers of even the more powerful and solidly built machines point out their limitations in no uncertain terms. One slightly sceptical visitor to the ultralights was Gerry Breen, who is one of the most experienced powered hang-glider pilots in Britain with a long background of power flying and con ventional gliding. He did the record 200-mile flight on a windy day earlier this year (see Private Flight, June 23). He felt that an experienced hang- glider pilot who had progressed onto a good powered kite was probably better off in performance and con trollability than someone without that experience in some of the ultra lights, even those with aerodynamic controls. He thought the Oshkosh ones were alright for pilots in light winds, but didn't seem to show good control. "As soon as you put aero dynamic controls and an engine on something, people think it's automati cally safer." An interesting comparison at Osh kosh with some of the ultralights was a "proper" aeroplane like the little Windwagon, the all-metal single-seater powered by "half" a VW and intro duced to Oshkosh last year. This also uses little more than one-and-a- quarter gal/hr, takes off or lands in about 300ft, is very simple to build from a kit and cruises at more than 80 m.p.h. You do, of course, need a pilot's licence and the homebuilt aero plane's Special Airworthiness Certifi cate to fly it. But since it is a con ventional miniature aeroplane with normal three-axis controls, it prob ably has more appeal to the ordinary pilot, and must be a lot less restricted by wind and turbulence. Whatever the economy of the ultra lights, Burt Rutan's Quickie canard design puts their performance to shame, since it achieves 80 m.p.h. on only 18 h.p. Following its Oshkosh debut in 1978, three came this year. The VariEze, most well- known of Rutan's designs, achieved even more distinction this year since it was the most numerous homebuilt Left One low way to open an airshow. A Pitts of the EAA's Internationa Aerobatic Club cuts the lower of two ribbons. Below Skycraft Scout airborne. Powerplant is a I73cc two-stroke ••••• •••• - • ^ . '•••• •- '• \ -. :P:«*sS:S§^ s
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