This should be a plane with a lot of cool factor:
http://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/eaa-news-and- ... he-skigull

The guy is Pure-D brilliant. He's designed a couple of very functional planes that didn't look like they'd work before they flew.

He's one of the few who looks at the mission, then designs the plane specifically to that mission, without a lot of hang ups or "tradition" interfering.

Should be fun to see what this looks like.

MTV

I've been following this for awhile and stumbled across this Video today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CatlUfYcG9Y It's a video blog where Rutan shares some design specifics with a group of RC guys and most of it has nothing to do with RC. He shares more design detail here than I've seen anywhere else.

Take off an land on any surface in 400 ft or less
Ability to cruise at 16% power
Suspension based landing system to allow landing on rough water
Composite controls throughout
Electric motors for docking and emergency power

If you like revolutionary aircraft design theory or anything Rutan, check it out! It's long but I was hooked after 5 minutes.

+1 on Burt's brilliance.

I was fortunate to make it to Mojave last month for an experimental aircraft flyin. Burt's legacy is extremely strong.

Mike Melville, Scaled Composite's chief test pilot for years gave a talk that was incredible. These guys are pioneers, and whatever they do is most likely legit.

Scolopax wrote:+1 on Burt's brilliance.

I was fortunate to make it to Mojave last month for an experimental aircraft flyin. Burt's legacy is extremely strong.

Mike Melville, Scaled Composite's chief test pilot for years gave a talk that was incredible. These guys are pioneers, and whatever they do is most likely legit.

Wow - that was amazing!! Thanks for sharing this video!

I think the boomerang plane that Burt designed was one of the best he ever did.
Very cool

Looks pretty cool!

http://aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main. ... 4106c6751f

The SkiGull has made it to the first water taxi test.

http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news ... UKWA%3D%3D

Some retirement

Burt Rutan spoke at the SPA Corn Roast at OSH this summer. An interesting talk....his wife finally drug him away from the microphone... .

It'll be interesting how the skis work on water. Judging from the photos in those links, he definitely needs to get the nose much higher out of the water.

Hydrodynamics is a somewhat different science than aerodynamics....both fluid dynamics, but the density of water changes things substantially. It will be interesting to see how this airplane operates on the water.

I thought his licensing the airplane as a "Motor Glider" was a very astute move....no medical required, since it's technically a glider, even if you never shut the engine down in flight....another Rutan innovation.

It's water handling is going to be the test. Lots of little things can dramatically change the performance of a seaplane on the water.

It'll be fun to see how it performs on water next summer, unless of course, he gets it flying well on wheels and gets impatient to get it in the water and migrates south.

I wish him the best of luck and I hope he brings the thing to OSH next year to show it off at the seaplane base.

MTV

He once said that he had thought that he had come up with the skiis, and was surprised to have found that Convair had done it in the 50s. I don't buy that. He's way too educated and well read to not have known about the Sea Dart.

In the Space Ship One days, a couple of us old model builders used to wave pieces of dethermalizer fuse at him when he came to the experimental glider event in Tehachapi. One of our local EAA chapter guys, Jack Norris, the technical director on the Voyager program, is a former free flight national champion.

All that said, Rutan succeeds far more than he fails, and it is very likely IMHO that the Ski Gull will meet its stated performance goals.

It fly's!... the main gear sure is unique.

https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/eaa-news-and ... rst-flight

"All maneuvers on the card were performed on this first flight. Speeds for first flight were limited to less than 80 knots and altitude to less than 8,000 feet."

I am not sure whether the claim that it's designed for "very rough water" matches up with the look of the thing?

Battson,

That's the theory behind the "skis". They would absorb most of the impact of initial touchdown, before the hull touches.

That said, that hull rides waaaaay low in the water....the canopy best be REALLY waterproof. Hopefully, his idea of land ability in big seas is purely a function of "survivability" , as opposed to landing in big water for fun.

But even in relatively calm water, that fuselage is going to be more like a submarine than a seaplane without more floatation forward.

Maybe.

MTV

Yeah - I am guessing that the engine is pretty light, and the fuel is aft in the wing.

At a glance, it looks like balance on the water with one pilot and limited fuel will be very forward.