What is this?

[oregonboy109]

I was at Urbana this morning (super busy) and saw this airplane on the ramp (see pic, sorry it's small). What is it? And what's the reasoning behind the collapsed nose gear look?

Enlighten me!

 

[Marauder]

Long EZ

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Long-EZ

 

[champ driver]

As Marauder said, Long EZ, designed by Burt Rutan who designed the Voyager and many other innovative planes.
God, you must be young.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Voyager

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Atlantic_GlobalFlyer

 

[wanttaja]

And what's the reasoning behind the collapsed nose gear look?

Occupants sit well forward in the fuselage, so when no one's the plane, the aircraft is significantly tailheavy. The nose gear retracts to ensure the plane doesn't tip over backwards. There's a hockey puck (or equivalent) embedded in the bottom of the nose for the plane to sit on. An EZ with the nose gear retracted is extremely stable, and can withstand significant winds.

Of course, others will tell you that the plane is merely bowing towards Mojave....

Ron Wanttaja

 

[frfly172]

Nice airplane,the EZ is just one of Rutans designs. Like the velocity myself,only for the room in the cockpit.

 

[BigBadLou]

Ah yes, the pure awesomeness of the Long EZ.

 

[oregonboy109]

Nice airplane,the EZ is just one of Rutans designs. Like the velocity myself,only for the room in the cockpit.

Thanks everyone,
There was actually a velocity right next to the EZ. Very cool plane.

 

[Velocity173]

Looks like a Varieze to me. Winglet "skeg" below the main winglet and trailing edge fences. Longeze a much improved version.