Shame and Restoration of Self Respect. Alonso Scott Rutan, 1988
The Journey of a 1960s EAFB FTEedwardsreunion.org/2019/RutanSlides.pdfBurt Rutan did the preliminary...
Transcript of The Journey of a 1960s EAFB FTEedwardsreunion.org/2019/RutanSlides.pdfBurt Rutan did the preliminary...
The Journey of a 1960s EAFB FTE:from
First post-college Jobto
Old Retired Airplane Developer
Edwards Air Force BaseFlight Test Engineer Reunion
Lancaster, Calif25April2019
By Burt Rutan
1965Half way from Yuri Gagarin to the moon landing.
Accepted EAFB Flight Test Engineer job.$7070/year at an ugly desert.
Why?The best path to be an aircraft designer.
West Ave J-15 rental
Fifty Four Years of ‘Progress’
1965 Edwards Flight Test:Mach Three Bomber and Strike/Recon
2019 Edwards Flight Test:All test aircraft – performance same as 1950s
Priority - Test a software fix for F-35
Three company priorities – defined and identified, even to equity holders.
1. Employee Fun. Fun always stops before bankruptcy.
2. Fun for employee family members.3. Profit.
Two entrepreneur companies for the full 39 years, with 5 different equity holders - we never
had a quarter without a profit.
World Flight Milestone
Required doubling previous distance record.
Final performance within 1% of plan.
Clear, concise goal
High risk. Ignored regulations.
No customer-driven risk issues.
Two Flights that Excited the Public1) Voyager Round-the-World, Non-Refueled
Two Flights that Excited the Public2) SpaceShipOne, First Non-Government Manned Space Program
• SpaceShipOne Flew Three of the World’s Five Manned Space Flights in 2004.
• Criteria - number of world newspapers that covered the event above-the-fold: SS1’s spaceflight was the world’s #2 news story of 2004.
Rutan’s aircraft designs are numbered. Most of them arepreliminary designs that never got built.
The most recent number is 388 and includesseveral new, unusual eVTOL concepts.
The Forty-Nine Manned Research Aircraft that have been completed and flight tested by RAF & Scaled can now be revealed.
Burt Rutan did the preliminary design on nearly all of these, and the detailed-design on about half of them.
This list does not include un-manned aircraft or those that cannot be legally shown.
Here they are, presented as “flashcards” at low resolution.
Manned Research Aircraft TypesRAF and Scaled companies
First post-Government job - Bede Aircraft, Newton Kansas1972 to 1974
• The only Rutan designs at Bede were:
• Design #2 BD Trainer ‘truck-a-plane’ ~ Nov, 1972
• Design #3 BD-5J Jet ~Jan, 1973
#5 VariViggen SP Model #32SP Homebuilt July, 1975
Rutan Aircraft Factory Manned First Flights
#10 AD-1 Model #35 NASA December, 1979
Rutan Aircraft Factory Manned First Flights
• Proof of Concept• 15% scale of a
transonic airliner
#11 Amsoil Biplane Racer Model #68 Mortensen August, 1981
Rutan Aircraft Factory Manned First Flights
#12 Next Generation Trainer Model #73 Fairchild September, 1981
Rutan Aircraft Factory Manned First Flights
• Proof of Concept• 62% scale
#16 StarShip POC* Model #115 Beechcraft August, 1983
Scaled Composites: Manned First Flights
• Proof of Concept• 85% scale
#17 Voyager Model #76 VAI June, 1984
Rutan Aircraft Factory Manned First Flights
Voyager flew nonstop, non-refueled around the world in December, 1986
#20 ATTT (SMUT) Model #133 DARPA December, 1987
Scaled Composites: Manned First Flights
• Proof of Concept• 63% scale
A Career of 49 Manned Research Aircraft Projects
Spent 46 years in the Antelope ValleyNever saw an antelope
Seven aircraft in SmithsonianNational Air & Space Museum
Two Collier TrophiesTwo SETP Doolittle Trophies
The Four Billionaires that Love Manned Spaceflight
• All four were kids during Apollo.• What can you see in your lifetime? No clue.• Most impressive accomplishment: Musk and
Bezos achieved booster-reuse breakthroughs.• Allen & Bezos have a Collier Trophy.• Only Allen has flown humans above 100 km.
• Musk flew his car beyond Mars, but no human spaceflight.
• All but Allen have spent Billions during the last 18 years, working at a slow pace.
• A First - Allen made a Profit on his 3-year SS1 program!• 45 % - Ten M$ X-Prize cash.• 65+ % from Branson contracts.
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Managers:Want Innovation? Do not “manage”
An Observation:Technical excellence and ability to motivate youth depends on breakthroughs
• Technical Courage and Accomplishments motivates all age groups to build on the success.
• American University Doctorates in Science/Engineering:
– Five years after Apollo 11 – US was First in the world
– Now – we are about 37th
Rights Reserved Do not copy or distribute without permission
Some Specifics
• Do not allow someone to design a component unless he is capable of going to the shop and building it himself.
• Important specific technical problems should be solved by small, dedicated, empowered interdisciplinary teams that have freedom to work without the normal company restrictions.
• Do not stifle creative designers; free them from your bureaucratic structures so they can focus on the goal. Let them know you trust and appreciate them. Give them ownership of the design.
More Specifics
• Only pilots with test experience should be responsible for aircraft configuration design.
• Focus on the Goal. Identify things being done that are not Goal critical. Get rid of all of them. They impede your best performers.
• Maintaining status quo is not leadership. A great leader never leaves things as he found them.
• Above all - Question, never Defend.