In 1992, Scaled Composites built a radio-controlled UAV intended for 48-hour flights at 65,000 feet. Called Quiver (it was later changed to Raptor, for “Responsive Aircraft Program for Theater Operations”), it had a wingspan of 66 feet and an 80 hp Rotax engine. Scaled also home-brewed the autopilot, and there was some uncertainty about how it might behave before its rates and gains had been properly adjusted. In order to avoid losing the prototype on its first flight, Burt Rutan came up with the idea of providing it with a human safety pilot who could take over in case something went wrong.
Now, the Quiver was designed to carry a 150-pound payload, including a couple of underwing anti-missile missiles, but its skinny fuselage did not have a cockpit, or even room for one. Rutan solved the problem with his customary ingenuity and sublime indifference to human comfort. A backrest and safety belts — but no windshield — were added on top of the fuselage, along with makeshift links to the primary flight controls. Test pilots Mike Melvill and Doug Shane, the latter now Scaled’s CEO, climbed into the makeshift saddle for the first flights.
