Burt Rutan may unveil amphibious motorglider

by
in space on (#6HK4)
There have been several articles in the recent past about Rutan and his retirement project, a motorglider with the ability to take off and land on rough water, smooth water, snow, and unimproved fields. He has said the range will allow flight from California to Hawaii non-stop at 170 knots.

EAA has some info here and here.

Burt said in one article he plans to fly around the world with his wife in the new plane going places where no other plane can go. The design is said to be able to take off and land in just 400 feet allowing for some very out of the way spots to be visited.

This will be a bush plane with a 23 to 1 glide ratio, something unheard of in the aviation world before now.
Reply 4 comments

not sure about the second link... (Score: 1)

by hapnstance@pipedot.org on 2015-04-07 15:12 (#6JTH)

I didn't see any mention of the new aircraft in the second linked article. Perhaps the wrong link was used? I also don't see the quote about flying around the world with his wife in either article. This leads me to think, even more, we might have the wrong link or we are missing a link. Can someone provide the correct link with the "flying around the world" quote?

Re: not sure about the second link... (Score: 1)

by bsdguy@pipedot.org on 2015-04-07 19:33 (#6K9A)

I only supplied two of the many recent links about the skigull project. There is more information here http://http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2015/March/16/Rutan-SkiGull , on the antennafilms site (linked from some of the articles previously mentioned) and of course more links http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Burt+Rutan+skigull

So far as the second link in the original post the biggest reason for Burt to be at Airventure is to announce the Skigull has flown. His previous history with Airventure would suggest this is as big or even bigger reason than the 40th anniversary of one of his designs.

As I predicted (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-21 03:49 (#7FRW)

This new link teaches us that Rutan will unveil the Skigull at airventure!

I can not wait to see what he has come up with!