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.