Ahh!!!  I'm feeling an attack of canard configurationism
         insensitivity!!  "All you canard airplanes look alike.  Can go
         500mph
         on 40hp and create fuel in the process.."  Ha ha.  :)

         A Varieze (Burt Rutan's 2nd "mainstream" design) is a small
         airplane.
         It has a total lifting surface (wing) area of 66sq ft - on par with
         Reno F1 racers, and yet the Varieze can carry 2 people in
reasonable
         comfort.  A stock Varieze will cruise between 165 and 200mph on a
         100hp O-200 for about 4 hours.  There's more speed potential as
         Klaus
         has demonstrated (in x-country flying, and at Reno).

         The Long EZ was Burt's next "mainstream" design - which had a
         goal of
         correcting all of the design deficiencies of the Varieze -
         namely the
         tiny wings which limited the useful load, caused high-ish minimum
         airspeeds which necessitated long, smooth runways.  The Long EZ is
         about 40% larger in most dimensions, designed around 4 cylinder
         Lycomings (O-235's, and O-320's are common while O-360's are
         numerous), carries 2x the fuel (52gal), and because of it's
         increased
         size is necessarily less fuel efficient than the Varieze at a given
         speed.  The Long EZ is a practical 2 seat traveling airplane with
         enough useful load to carry an IFR panel, 2 adults, plus a little
         baggage across the US with one fuel stop.  A normal 150hp Long
         EZ will
         cruise around 200mph.

         Burt designed some other canard style airplanes including the
         Defiant
         (a push-pull 4-seat twin), and the Beech Starship.  All of Burt's
         experimental airplanes were plans-built, glass over foam
         construction.
          Not kit-built (ignore the Solitaire).

         The Berkut was Dave Ronneberg's creation after having done several
         Long EZ's and working on a few of Burt's projects (including the
         'round the world Voyager).  The Berkut has essentially the same
wing
         area as the Long EZ but was stretched to accommodate bigger
         people and
         heavier engines - 4 Cylinder FI Big Bore Angle Valve Lycomings
         (IO-360) and can accomodate the lighter O-540's.  Fixed pitch prop,
         retractable main landing gear (along with the nose gear), F4
Phantom
         style canopies.  Lots of Carbon Fiber in the structure.  230-250mph
         cruise speed.  There was a Berkut that raced in the Sport Class at
         Reno - lapping in the low 260mph range.  Early Berkuts had only
         a few
         molded pieces of the airframe while later airplanes included
         more/mostly molded parts.

         The E-Racer was Shirl Dickey's design - LongEZ construction
methods,
         wings, canard, side by side seating, and was the source of the
         retractable main gear for the Berkut.  Shirl's early airplane had
an
         automotive v engine mounted behind the seats (ahead of the wing)
         driving a shaft, reduction unit and prop (located behind the wing).
         Shirl later redesigned the airplane to use a conventional aircraft
         engine mounted in the normal (LongEZ) location.  Only a few have
         been
         built.  My personal favorite.  Have used engines from v6 Buicks to
         O-320's to a supercharged O-540.  180mph to 250mph cruise
         depending on
         engine and drag reduction.

         The Cozy was Nat Puffer's design.  Started out as a Long EZ with a
         front seat wide enough for two (narrow) people, and a wide, single
         back seat.  Early Cozys even had the O-235 like the early Long EZs
-
         must have been doggy..  Later (Mk IV) the back seat was widened to
         accommodate two (narrow) people and the common engine became the
         Lycoming O-360.  LongEZ wings, canard, winglets.  180 to 230mph
         cruise.  Normally built from plans like a LongEZ.  AeroCad has a
kit
         version - molded parts.

         All of the above typically "kneel" while parked on the ground.
         Without the weight of the front seater(s), most of of these
         won't sit
         securely on the nose gear - tipping over to rest on the main
         gear and
         tips of the wings - usually damaging the prop.  The E-Racer is
         supposedly pretty secure while sitting on all 3 wheels - the
         passenger/pilot sit close to the airplanes CG and so they don't
         represent as much of a balancing force.  None the less, the
fuselage
         sides must be climbed over to enter or exit any of these airplanes,
         and kneeling the nose gear makes this easier.  The airplanes with
         electric gear can lower and extend the gear (raising and
         lowering the
         nose) while on the ground.

         The Velocity is a totally different line of airplanes.  The only
         real
         similarities are that it has the horizontal stab up front, swept
         wings
         in the back and (most have) vertical stabs co-located with wingtip
         winglets.  Velocity's are all molded kit built, use engines from
         150-300hp.  Some of the new ones are 5 seaters - wide back seat.
         Swing up doors on each side.  Have cruise speeds from 170mph to
         270mph
         depending on whether it has retractable gear (a unique design) and
         what engine it's using.

         There have been a few other one-off airplanes that look like the
         original Varieze..



         Probably more than anyone wanted to know...  ;)

         Matt-


         Not all I still want to know if the berkut is being produce
         because I
         thought they went out of production. A long time ago.

         Clifton




         I don't know.

         Paul Lamar



     I missed that..

     All of these airplanes are still being built.  Some only from
     previously produced plans/kits.

     Rutan is out of the game.  There are copies of plans available (being
     printed now) for the LongEZ.  Actually, Rutan's plans are really a
     fairly complete manufacturing manual.

     The Berkut has been out of production for a long time.  To my
     knowledge none of the major molded pieces are available.

     I believe Shirl Dickey no longer sells plans.

     Cozy plans are available new.  AeroCad makes as much of a molded
     airframe as you want.

     The Velocity is still being produced.


     Matt-

I was at Montgomery field the other day when a couple of canards did a
low pass at very high speed then eventually parked right next to my plane.

A large group of geek and business types came out and started gawking
at the planes, where I now recognized as Berkuts. (actually, they were
calling one by a different name, but it was the same plane).  Both
planes had been modified with the rear seat turned into a cargo bay.  I
tried to listen into the presentation, but they shooed me away.  All I
could get was that one of the planes was built at the "factory" from the
new tooling and was the "production prototype".

I was told that the new prices are now way out of range of the homebuilder.