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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 0841.PDF
New venture for Rutan CALIFORNIA Homebuilt canard specialist Burt Rutan has opened a new factory, known as Scaled Composites, at Mojave. The new organisation has a 30,000ft2 area and is an offshoot of the Rutan Aircraft Factory, formed to carry out research, design and construc tion of advanced technology aircraft for other companies and individuals. Herb Iversen is Rutan's partner. Two "highly classified" projects are currently in the works, one believed to be a side-by-side two-seater. There is likely to be some research and develop ment spin-off to the home- built field. Most of Burt Rutan's engineering energies are being directed towards the new company, and Mike Melville, as general manager of RAF, is looking after day-to-day oper ation of the organisation's homebuilt aircraft work. The main programme at present is development of the Solitaire homebuilt sailplane, and plans and components should be moving out from the factory by June. According to Melville, the engine develop ment has taken longer than the construction of the aircraft, and the engine retraction system is still being worked on. The Model 77 Solitaire's design was started several years ago, but progress was slowed because of other priori ties, and it did not fly until last year. It won the Soaring Society of America's design competition for a homebuilt sailplane. The 42ft span, all- Burt Rutan in a LongEz leads a VariEze composite single-seater first flew with a 17 h.p. one- cylinder Cuyana powerplant. A Fuji Robin and another Japanese engine were tested, and a 25 h.p. Normalair Garrett was test-flown for some 30hr. This was tested without retraction. Current powerplant is the Italian-designed 25 h.p. two- stroke KFM 107. This was also first flight-tested on a non-retractable "pole", but is now installed on a pivoting mount. This is likely to be the engine in the final homebuilt aircraft. The Solitaire has been static-tested to l| times its 4-67g design limit, at which time its wingtips deflected over 46in. It has an "S" glass spar, claimed to be close to the strength of carbonfibre. The RAF organisation claims that the Solitaire is the first high- performance sailplane that exhibits true stall-proof flying qualities in the conventional sense, allowing slow thermal- ling flight without the risk of stall or "departure". Trailing-edge "spoilflaps" result in only very minor pitch trim change. A two-wheel tandem landing gear is used, The Solitaire should be available to homebuilders this summer with nose-wheel steering, and the aircraft can be towed or taxiied to the active runway without additional ground handling. Cruise speed power- on is 85 to 90kt, max L/D is 32:1 and minimum sink some 135ft/min. The Solitaire can be flown with a private pilot licence, using power for self- launching, or as a sailplane with propeller and engine retracted. RAF hopes to keep the total cost of a Solitaire to between $7,000 and $9,000 with engine, depending on the number of pre-built components. Kits will include fuselage shells, canopy, wing spars and fittings, all metal parts, and the control system. The builder will only have to construct the wing and canard. The four-seat push-pull twin-engined Defiant project is quiet at present, as is the Grizzly proof-of-concept Stol aircraft, although the latter has been used as a towplane for the Solitaire. RAF continues to produce kits and plans for the LongEz, VariEze and VariViggen. There are now more than 2,000 VariEze kits in the field, with others under construc tion from plans. A total of 450 is known to be already flying, with at least 1,000 more expected to be completed and flown. The LongEz count is 1,200 kits in the field and 52 aircraft flying. Examples of both types are flying in the USA, Canada, England, France, Germany, Switzer land, Australia, and New Zealand. There are also some "close to flying" in Belgium, New Guinea, and Venezuela. Enquiries have also come from the Eastern Bloc. There is still an interest in PRIVATE FLIGHT the VariViggen, Rutan's first canard design for the home built market. More than 1,000 sets of plans were sold, and 16 have been completed and flown to date, including a jet- powered version in France. There are believed to be about 50 under construction. There are two main reasons why so many of the VariEze/Long-Ez projects have been completed: the remarkable performance, and composite structure. Melville ponts out that the handling of composites motivates people to complete an aircraft because of their relatively quick-drying qualities. Having started work on a piece of structure, you have to finish the process before drying occurs. "It is a self- propelling type of construc tion, and because of it, we often see the first aircraft appearing within a year after the release of plans. With wood and metal, first aircraft usually appear about three years after plans go out." Rutan is also working with brother Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager on design and construction of their Voyager round-the-world aircraft, scheduled for completion by mid-year. It employs the very latest state-of-the-art long distance thinking and is believed to be a canard design with a span of nearly 100ft. The wing and canard are joined by two booms (like the Grizzly), containing part of the fuel for 30,000 miles. It has an engine at each end of the fuselage, like the Defiant. New trainer from Partenavia ROME ~ Partenavia has developed a new two-seater known as the Charlie Trainer. It is in effect a two-seat version of the existing P66C Charlie, the 160 h.p. four-seater with similar styling to the C172 and used by Italian Aero Clubs. It derives from the earlier P64/P66 Oscar trainer of which more than 200 were built in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Engine will be the Lycoming 0-235 and the Trainer will be capable of positive g aerobatics, like the P66C series. It should be flying this month. FLIGHT International, 14 May 1983 1305
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