Burt Rutan was a groundbreaking aerospace designer who pioneered innovative aircraft designs, including "moldless composite" construction and the widespread use of canards, revolutionizing aviation with his unconventional approaches.
His career was marked by monumental achievements such as the Voyager, which completed the first unrefueled non-stop flight around the world, and SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize and inaugurated private spaceflight.
Through Rutan Aircraft Factory and later Scaled Composites, he consistently turned seemingly impossible ideas into reality, known for the vast variety of his designs, his engineering mastery, and his unique ability to push the boundaries of flight and space exploration.
On April 3 there was a short e-mail from Dick Rutan to “All.” It said:
Just a note … had a going away lunch at the Voyager Cafe Mojave with Burt and Tonya; after lunch they got in the car and are driving to the new home in Idaho as I write. So they are gone lock stock and barrel from Mojave.
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Peter Garrison taught himself to use a slide rule and tin snips, built an airplane in his backyard, and flew it to Japan. He began contributing to FLYING in 1968, and he continues to share his columns, ""Technicalities"" and ""Aftermath,"" with FLYING readers.
