Designing 400 Air and Spacecraft - Episode 50

Legendary aerospace engineer Burt Rutan shares untold stories behind some of the most unique air and spacecraft ever built.

In this episode, Burt reflects on a lifetime of aerospace innovation — from working as a U.S. Air Force flight test engineer to breaking records with his homebuilt aircraft. He also discusses stall testing the F-4, Bede Aircraft, the world’s largest airplane, and the Voyager and GlobalFlyer around-the-world flights. This one is going to be cool!

Episode 50 marks the end of Season 5 of the Behind the Wings podcast. We'll be taking a short break and will be back later this year with Season 6!

Key Takeaways:

• Burt's love of aviation began when two B-36 bombers flew over his house. He was building airplanes out of balsa wood at the time.
• After college, Burt started his aerospace career at Edwards Air Force base as a civilian Flight Test Engineer. He worked on the F-4 to test and help with its stalling problems.
• Jim Bede of Bede Aircraft wanted Burt to help him test and perfect his BD-5. Burt would work with him for two years overseeing test pilots and designs.
• Burt's passion was to solve departure problems in aircraft. His home builds often had a canard design to help alleviate most spin issues. As of today, he has built 49 aircraft and created over 400 others.
• Stratolaunch Roc, the world's largest aircraft, was designed by Burt. This twin-fuselage plane is used to test hypersonic flight by launching a vehicle, the Talon-A, from the aircraft's center.
• Burt's aircraft have several world records including the round the world flights conducted by Dick Rutan in the Rutan Voyager and Steve Fosset in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. Steve Fosset flew around the world three times in the GlobalFlyer.
• Burt thinks the future of aviation is one without pilots. With the advancements of AI and autonomous vehicles, he thinks that future airplanes should be designed without aviator controls.

Resources:

• Burt's Website 
• The BD-5 
• Stratolaunch's Website 
• Hypersonic Flight Testing (Behind the Wings on PBS)

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:11) - Early Interest in Aviation
• (03:03) - Spin Testing the F-4
• (05:10) - Testing the XC-142A
• (06:54) - Working at Bede Aircraft
• (10:07) - Building the VariViggen
• (11:57) - The Long-EZ
• (13:07) - The World's Largest Airplane
• (15:07) - 400 Designs
• (16:01) - Flying Around the World in Voyager
• (18:59) - The GlobalFlyer's Record
• (25:16) - The Future of Aircraft
• (27:10) - Life Advice
• (28:15) - Outro