Heifer dust. Daddy taught me that the best sense an engineer can have is to
recognize a dead horse, take it out, and bury it with the least possible
ceremony.

Rutan discovered early on, before anybody bought the farm with his poor
advice, that the VW was NOT reliable enough to power the airplane properly.
He immediately changed his plans to incorporate a "real" airplane engine.
As I understand it, there are EZs flying with every imaginable powerplant,
from Continentals to Mazdas and Suzukis.

As to "easy to build", that is a loosey-goosey term. However, until Rutan
came along, airplane construction for most folks was measured in decades.
He measured in years. Get a full blown factory up and running to provide
"kits" with "fast build" options like Van and you now measure in months.
That wasn't Rutan's gig. He sold plans, that if followed, produced a pretty
damned good airplane. And, unlike some in the business, never took a nickel
from anybody for vaporware.

As to "simple control system", again that is something that can't be
measured. What is simple to one is complex to another.

But Grizzly, Defiant, Voyager, Space I ... marks of a snake oil salesman?
Fry, you suck. Oh, and Fry, how many designs have YOU made that have flown?
And put on the market? And endured years and years of answering the same
stupid questions over and over? And year after year filled the tent at
Oshkosh with overflow crowds? Hmmm?

Jim

--
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought
without accepting it."
--Aristotle




"Bob Fry" wrote in message
...


vee In the final analysis most of the claims made for the Varieze
vee -- VW- powered, easy to build, inexpensive, simple control
vee system -- proved false.

Say it again, brudda! Rutan is aviation's premier snake-oil salesman.