Dick Rutan, the pilot of the 1986 Voyager round-the-world flight and brother of famed airplane designer Burt, recently completed the first test flight of a Cirrus SR22 in Mojave, California, powered by the Graflight V-8 diesel engine from Engineered Propulsion Systems.
Rutan piloted the Cirrus to 5,000 feet for the successful 20-minute trip aloft, arriving back on the ground where he was promptly showered by champagne by EPS employees. Mike Melvill, another famous test pilot who made history at the controls of Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne in 2004, flew chase during the test hop in a self-built Long-EZ.
