WHERE EAGLES DARE

This strange looking plane is called a Long EZ. It was designed by Burt Rutan and is offered in kit form or straight plans. It is a little over 16 feet long, capable of staying in the air for 10 hours and travel over 1600 miles. No, it is not missing a front wheel. Before the pilot can get in the aircraft, he has to extend the nose landing gear. It is as bizarre looking in person as it is in the photo. An amazing piece of aeronautical engineering.

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY. IT'S A BIRD. IT'S A PLANE. IT'S ...

I was out walking the dogs the other day and heard what I assumed was a swarm of insects approaching. I looked around but saw nothing as the sound grew louder. Then, with cat like reflexes, I looked up to see a small object in the sky. It was headed towards the airport just a stones throw from where we were. I dispatched the dogs and proceeded to the tarmac. I arrived just in time to snap a picture of the creature. It is a Sportcopter Gyroplane which is sort of an airplane that fell in love with a helicopter and reproduced. The model is call The Vortex. They have a neat video on their website. You may view it by clicking here. Maybe man was meant to fly after-all.

PUSH ME, PULL ME- PART 2

While having dinner last night, I saw this strange looking plane pass my line of sight on approach to the airport. It was similar to the Piaggio aircraft I showed you several days ago. It has rear facing propellors and it's rudder is underneath the fuselage. It is called The Starship. So far, I can see you nodding off. It was the first aircraft to employ all-graphite composite in the airframe. It employed many other "firsts" but are way to technical for this blogger. Commercially, the plane was a failure;only 53 were ever built. They were too expensive and introduced during a down cycle in the economy. As of last fall, only 6 were still in service. I'm not an aviation junkie, but I think it is kind of neat to see something that is the last of it's kind when just a few years ago it was so ahead of it's time. Look up, you may see one of the last ones yourself. They are pretty hard to miss.