AirVenture 2011 - Burt Rutan Day |
| Thursday was Burt
Rutan day. I got to see and hear him for the first
time. He's a good
speaker, and of course, is very interesting. The audience hung on every word. |
|
 |
|
|
He is a giant at AirVenture: on
the same level as Paul Poberzny and Bob Hoover. |
|
 |
|
| They had some of
his many designs on display at the square, including this ususual looking
glider. |
|
 |
|
|
He said he considered
the Boomerang -- seen here flying -- his finest accomplishment in
General Aviation airplanes. Most twin engine airplanes are difficult
to control if you lose one engine because the other engine is "pulling"
you in the opposite direction. But that doesn't happen in the Boomerange because both engines give symmetric
thrust. I'm no aeronautical engineering; I'm just repeating what I
think I heard! |
|
 |
|
| Burt Rutan talking
Mike Melville -- the famous pilot who has test-flown so many of his
designs on their first flight. |
|
 |
|
| Another Rutan
design taxiis out: the Starship. It was supposed to replace
the KingAir but was too far ahead of its time and never caught on.
One flies out of Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) near my
work. I see it fly overhead all the time. It has a very
distinctive sound. |
|
 |
|
| The Starship in
flight. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|