can anyone ID this craft?

Originally posted by NGC2736
reply to post by Beamish

 

Good of you.

To honorably admit an error is a waysign on the road to perfection.

It's easy to jump to the "fake" explanation, but we stand the chance of missing something worthwhile if we do. We become just another sheep when we fail to take an honest look at everything.

I'm honored to know that these forums are filled with some of the most open minded and honest skeptics in the world. And I say that with the greatest respect. To seek proof, with an open mind for wherever the facts may lead, is to become greater with each passing day.

Originally posted by NGC2736
reply to post by Beamish

 

Good of you.

To honorably admit an error is a waysign on the road to perfection.

It's easy to jump to the "fake" explanation, but we stand the chance of missing something worthwhile if we do. We become just another sheep when we fail to take an honest look at everything.

I'm honored to know that these forums are filled with some of the most open minded and honest skeptics in the world. And I say that with the greatest respect. To seek proof, with an open mind for wherever the facts may lead, is to become greater with each passing day.

Well said, the search for knowledge is an honorable and satisfying one, if we learn all that we can the truth becomes much clearer.
Onward to the next challenge.

I know nothing about airplanes but this is coooool!

When you say 'kit' planes do you mean people can build them like they do those 'kit' cars?

How awesome is THAT?

Thanks for sharing the photo.

Yes, there are lots and lots of kit planes that can be built instead
of buying a ready-to-fly, fully certified plane from a factory.

The man I know in our area built his canard from factory specs that
are provided when you purchase the kit. They can be built in a garage
at home, depending on the size of the plane of course, or at a hanger
at an airport.

Sometimes they can be built in a few months or it can take as long as
three or four years depending on the complexity of the aircraft and
how it is equipped. The airplane has to be inspected by official FAA
inspectors to certify it is airworthy. Then it is normally classified as
an experimental type. Actually ALL airplanes were experimentals at
one time if you think about it. Even the airplanes produced on a large
assembly line at a factory are experimental until they are finally test
flown and certified. After they have all the bugs worked out and they
are deemed to be fully safe, then they are certified, meaning they
can then be flown away from the factory. Sort of like buying an
automobile at your dealer and driving away.

But yes, there are tons of airplanes that can be built by the buyer.
Some people would prefer building their own. It can be a really fun
thing to do if you have the patience and the tools to build one.

ZOOMER

Wow one of the ugliest planes i have ever seen. But it is experimental so what can you not expect? Good post though

Whether the picture is fake or not (and I think not) is IS of a real aeroplane and not some fictitious UFO.

I apologise to coming late to the thread and maybe repeating other things that have been said but I recognised the type immediately as a member of the Rutan EZE family, this is not an experimental type but a commercial product that has been on sale and used successfully for more than 25 years already.

I am also very familiar with the design of the Beech Starship (also about 25 years old) but never thought it was this. Quite apart from the the fact that the odds on it being a Starship compared to an Eze are akin to your odds of winning the lottery

Definitely an Eze then, and not even worth faking given the number of photos taken of the plane over the last three decades

Several years ago when I was on my way home from a MTB ride, there was a guy flying one of the canard experimentals out over some open ranch land.
I first noticed him as he pulled a barrel roll about 50' above the ground, so I pulled over, because I had to watch.
He was a very skilled pilot and really working the aircraft hard. He was doing all sorts of aerobatics. I watched for about 10 minutes then continued on back into town, about 25 miles.
When I got about 5 miles from town, a ambulance and a couple of fire trucks were headed the opposite direction.
Later that evening on the news, I saw the story about the experimental aircraft that crashed 25 miles north of town, killing the pilot.
It must have crashed just minutes after I left.


Witness's said that the front canards came off when he pulled up hard and it plowed into the ground at full speed from only a couple hundred feet up.
It was also the first time he had the aircaft out.

Still think that it is a Starship, as most of the EZ builders choose to use wheel pants to increase economy. This aircraft has no wheel pants on the mains. It looks like a photo of a Beech Starship in Takeoff/Landing Config. The wheels are down but with the way the plane is banked you just can't see the nose wheel. but the aperently forward swept canard screams Starship because it's the only aircraft with forward swept canard in TO/Landing config.

Sorry for my stuborness but I build "Kit" Planes for a living in my own company and I have built many, many EZ's in the past (and I am one of the only builders that has Scaled Composites permission to still build the EZ varients) and this is no EZ.

This was fillmes in Utah? Well there is still one Starship in Washington State and one in Northern Cal. This could easily be one of those flying over. The other thing that makes me think that this may be a Starship, is the fact that the "shooter" stated that this thing made a terrible noise. I know EZ's sound perfectly normal with either a Lycoming or Contenental Motor, but a Starship equiped with Pratt and Whitney PT6 turbine engines with the exhaust dumping straight into those props, sounds like the aircraft is scream/roaring at flight idle. It is a very distinct noise.

Good photo, you don't get to see one of these around very often. The last one I saw was last year at the Oshkosh Airshow. Consider yourself lucky.

As to the poster that called this aircraft "UGLY", All I can say is thank god that opinions are free. I personally feel that any cannard aircraft have the most beautyfull lines of any propeller aircraft ever made. (But that's my opinion )

looks like a shinden (made in Japan in WWII but never saw action)