When HBC successfully puts a man in space in their own private design, I'll listen to their spin on the Starship. Until then, I am with Rutan. And yes, it was "plastic".

The Voyager was a single mission design and it was successful.

Rutan obviously did not design his airplanes to generate a profit. Others have been hugely successful as a result of his brilliance.

Einstein wasn't commercially successful either. Both will leave a legacy far greater than money can buy.

I think there have been many stellar and great concepts, and Rutan is a pioneer in them. But, the costs don't end with purchase. There are parts, qualified mechanics to work on them, serviceability, and the most important, tried and true time in service.

One of my main decisions to go with a Beech product is just about every maint. facility has at least one guy that has worked on one. 50 years of parts, salvage, and enough of a fleet to make it profitable for the manufacturer, or someone to make replacement parts for the foreseeable future.

The eclipse was what allot of people were waiting for. Look at the instability in that history. Money/time/reliability is not an issue for some, but for many it is.

Mark

Looks lopsided to me...

Well since Rutan's designs have no commercial value, I would be willing to pay 100 AMUs for the rights to all of his designs and patents. Where do I send the check?

I thought that plane was designed by Dr Seuss.

A brand new article on the Boomerang: "Burt Rutan's Favorite Ride".

"Rutan has said that this is the one general aviation aircraft he designed that he’d like to go into production. “It’s the most significant general aviation airplane I’ve ever done,” he says."

http://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today ... evice=ipad

Thanks Chris. A good read.

Wow. The speed and range numbers are amazing.

Remember the Rutan Pond Racer? Now, that was a beautiful airplane! Bob

Snapped this photo at Oshkosh last month.
Really interesting to look at

I've been shopping for a new TV lately. I'm amazed how cheap they've become. $1500 for a 60" LCD.

The same would apply to airplanes and cars if the government got out of the middle.

Anyone remember ADAM Aircraft. They certified the piston version and were working on a jet and then puff, gone.

Those were interesting aircraft. It's been awhile but I think that at a minimum they had quality control/production problems. Even Flying magazine, who never says anything bad about anything, mentioned the crappy fit and finish in their review.

Here is the article. Looks like it, like most designs, got fat and had other issues spring up during the certification process. Article says it had 30gal of unusable fuel!

Yup,

looked kinda like this.....

But the Adam, other than the Rutan connection and slightly weird shape, was vastly less useful than the Boomerang.

The Boomering is Exhibit A in how the government stifles innovation and has destroyed one of our best industries.