Rutan Long-EZ

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rutan Long-EZ
Rutan Long-EZ
Rutan Long-EZ with additional tanks under the wings
Type: Canard
Design country:

United StatesUnited States United States

Manufacturer:

Rutan Aircraft Factory

First flight:

June 12, 1979

The Rutan Long-EZ is a canard aircraft designed by Burt Rutan's company Rutan Aircraft Factory under the project name Model 61 . The aim of the design is an aircraft that covers long distances economically and can be built in-house.

construction

The Long-EZ was designed on the basis of the Rutan VariEze . Since these are self-made, many larger and smaller modifications can be found on the individual aircraft. Compared to the previous model, the wing in particular has been enlarged and equipped with larger strakes in order to increase the fuel and luggage capacity. The wing with a modified Eppler 1230 profile also has less sweep . In addition, the drive has been modified to eliminate the ballast in the nose that is necessary for the VariEze.

Since the aircraft was sold in the form of construction plans, the necessary manufacturing techniques are tailored to the possibilities of experienced self-builders. The fuselage was z. B. carved out of a foam block, coated with GRP and the resulting shell then hollowed out.

Long-Ez placed on the nose

The Bug chassis is retractable while the main gear is made rigid. Since the center of gravity is very close to the main landing gear in the front fuselage area without the pilot, the Long-EZ tends to tip backwards due to wind when parked. For this reason, after the pilot disembarks, the nose landing gear is usually retracted again and the aircraft is placed on the aircraft nose .

use

The long EZ is very popular. Around 700 copies are now registered with the FAA alone .

In 1981 Dick Rutan set a course record in class C1B (<1000 kg) with 4563.35  NM (8451 km). Burt Rutan himself stopped his involvement in Long-EZ and his other do-it-yourself designs in the mid-1980s when he closed the Rutan Aircraft Factory to avoid possible lawsuits.

In 1997, Dick Rutan and Mike Melvill started their Spirit of EAA Friendship World Tour . They circled the earth and flew over the Atlantic from Recife to Abidjan in 14.8 hours . The longest part of their journey took them in a 17-hour non-stop flight over the Indian Ocean from Réunion to the Cocos Islands .

For test purposes , a Long-EZ from XCOR Aerospace was equipped with a rocket engine. In December 2005 the aircraft, now known as EZ-Rocket , flew from Mojave Air & Space Port to California City Municipal Airport 9.94  NM (= 18.4 km) away . In return, the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) awarded her the record for the longest flight of a rocket-propelled aircraft launched from the ground.

Rutan Long-EZ with PDE

On January 31, 2008, an aircraft with a Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) took off from the Mojave Air & Space Port for the first time. For this purpose, a Long EZ was equipped with a PDE by the Air Force Research Laboratory and Innovative Scientific Solutions and named Borealis . The engine consisted of four tubes with a pulse frequency of 80 Hz, which generated 890 Newtons of thrust. Various fuels were tested in preliminary tests, and ultimately the flight was carried out with refined octanes . The launch from the ground was carried out with a small auxiliary rocket. In the air, the PDE ran for about 10 seconds, at a height of about 30 m. The aircraft is on display today at the National Museum of the United States Air Force .

On July 19, 2012, Chip Yates achieved a new speed record for electrically powered aircraft with a machine of this type, which he had equipped with an electric drive.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
crew 1
Passengers 1
length 5.12 m
span 7.96 m
height 2.4 m
Wing area 7.617 m²
Empty mass 322 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 601 kg
Top speed 298 km / h (161 kts)
Cruising speed 232 km / h (125 kts)
Service ceiling 8230 m
Rate of climb 6.9 m / s
Range 3235 km
Engines a Lycoming O-235 with 115 PS (86 kW)

See also

Web links

Commons : Rutan Long-EZ  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rutan Model 61 LongEZ. In: aviastar.org. Retrieved March 10, 2012 .
  2. ↑ a b c d RUTAN Model 61 'Long-EZ'. In: stargazer2006. Retrieved October 17, 2017 .
  3. ↑ LongEZE. In: pilotfriend.com. Retrieved March 10, 2012 .
  4. ↑ RUTAN 'Long-EZ-B'. In: stargazer2006. Retrieved March 10, 2012 .
  5. ^ Kelly Hall: The Long-Ez way around the world. (PDF; 965 kB) In: cozybuilder.com. Retrieved March 29, 2016 .
  6. ^ The Planes of Mojave: Special EZes, Part I - World Traveler. In: mojaveskies.blogspot.com. Retrieved March 10, 2012 .
  7. ^ How the EZ-Rocket Works. In: howstuffworks.com. Retrieved March 10, 2012 .
  8. ↑ The EZ Rocket. In: xcor.com. Retrieved March 10, 2012 .
  9. ↑ Norris, G .: Pulse Power: Pulse Detonation Engine-powered Flight Demonstration Marks Milestone in Mojave. In: Aviation Week & Space Technology. Vol. 168, No. 7, 2008, p. 60.
  10. ↑ Pulse Detonation Engine Flies Into History ( Memento from February 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). In: Air Force Print News Today , May 16, 2008, accessed August 16, 2008.
  11. ^ Long ESA. In: flightofthecentury.com. Retrieved July 20, 2012 .
  12. ↑ Record-Setting Electric Airplane Breaks 200-MPH Barrier for First Time. In: flightofthecentury.com. Retrieved July 20, 2012 .