Rutan Quickie

The Rutan Quickie is a lightweight, single‑seat homebuilt aircraft that emerged in the late 1970s as the first product of Burt Rutan’s Rutan Aircraft Factory. Designed by Rutan and first flown in 1978, the Quickie was conceived to demonstrate that a very small aircraft could achieve respectable performance with minimal power, using a canard layout and a pusher‑propeller configuration. Its construction relies on a combination of composite materials and aluminum tubing, resulting in an empty weight of roughly 500 pounds and a cruising speed near 120 miles per hour on a modest 20‑horsepower engine. The distinctive canard foreplane provides both lift and pitch stability, while the low‑drag fuselage and swept wing contribute to an efficient lift‑to‑drag ratio unmatched by many contemporaries. The Quickie’s popularity surged through the Experimental Aircraft Association’s home‑build community, spawning numerous variants such as the Quickie II and the tandem‑seat Q2. Its influence extends beyond its modest size; the aircraft validated Rutan’s unconventional design philosophy and paved the way for later successful canard jets like the VariEze and the Voyager, cementing its place as a milestone in innovative, low‑cost aviation.

Rutan Aircraft Factory

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