Experimenter

July 2013

Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.

Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/142883

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 24 of 46

them a Sonex and various RVs—and they're sufficiently comfortable with both their choices and SCALED's acceptance of them that one of them told me, "I hate composites!" with no fear of repercussion. And then there are a few who've taken over existing aircraft: Zach Reeder, who came to SCALED from Texas, and Jim Reed had long gazed hungrily at Burt Rutan's own purpose-built CAFÉ race airplane (and potential Beech Bonanza replacement), the Model 81 Catbird. Its engine and various other components had been removed, partly so Burt (always frugal in those days) could use it as one of two in his Boomerang asymmetric twin, and partly to make the airframe light enough so it could be hung upside down from the ceiling of the SCALED hangar. Zach Reeder always thought that the airplane was too good to languish, either like a fly on the ceiling or in a museum, and persuaded Burt to let him and Jim Reed restore it (Burt even contributed toward a new engine); it now shares space in their hangar with an RV and flies all the time (including to AirVenture). Matt and Justin Stinemetze's carbon fber Bearcat project, with Matt's carbon horizontal stabilator. Te brothers are building two prototypes at the same time, so they can each have one. Similarly, Dustin Riggs befriended Burt's brother Dick, who now owns and flies a Berkut; he's now become the caretaker and pilot of Dick's blue Long-EZ, one of two which Dick and Mike Melvill flew around the world in 1997, not so much to set a record as just to have an adventure. And finally, there are the modelers. Let us not forget that Burt first appeared on the aeronautical scene at age 15 as a champion model plane designer, builder, and flier. At a typical big aerospace company, the engineers wear khakis and button-down shirts, drink coffee, and discuss sports on their morning and afternoon breaks. At SCALED, just about everyone—from the engineering office to the shop floor—is likely to wear blue jeans and T-shirts, and on their breaks the modelers go outside to fly their planes. One of the engineers—not entirely coincidentally, also a lead pilot for some of SCALEDs UAV projects—has become a dealer for model plane suppliers, and he passes the savings on to his colleagues. On my visit, one modeler showed off an impressive ducted-fan F-16, complete with vectored thrust, that he'd bought new for all of $150 (plus the radios, which he already had); others on that particular coffee break were flying everything from a GeeBee to a tiny electric Cub aero-towing an equally tiny AS-K21 sailplane. The low prices, as well as a generally high level of flying talent, make for a somewhat cavalier attitude; when the GeeBee completed a low pass by flying into a road sign and smashing into smithereens in a macabre re-enactment of Lowell Bayles's 1931 crash in the Model Z, its pilot was greeted not with groans of commiseration but with roars of laughter. When Burt founded SCALED, he kept a brass plaque on his desk that read: "The purpose of man's existence on earth is Photography courtesy of Peter Lert A typical SCALED employee's hangar. In the foreground is Ben Harvey's Long-EZ; in the middle is Justin Stinemetze's Long-EZ; and in the background is a Q-1 project belonging to Ben. to fly; time not spent flying, or preparing to fly, is wasted." He told me then that one of his main goals for SCALED was for its engineers and fabricators not only to advance the frontiers of aerospace but to have fun doing it. Based on what I saw at SCALED this spring, even now that Burt himself has "retired" (he is still consulting on various projects), the company has more than lived up to his ideal. » Photo Gallery 1: The Builders of Scaled Composite— This photo gallery shares some quick profiles of some of the SCALED homebuilders with photos of their projects. » Photo Gallery 2: On Saturday, April 20, the Mojave Airport hosted the Mojave Experimental Fly-In. Pat Panzera attended and shared these photos and captions with us. EAA Experimenter 25

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Experimenter - July 2013