Day Seven: Rutan Boomerang

     I got up early and went over to Tim's house. He is working on his rental a few miles from SLO and I'm helping out. We got some supplies from around the house and went to home depot for more. When we got to the house we unloaded all of the tools and I started painting the trim on the front of the house and the roof while Tim cut out dry rot and made new pieces to fit. At 4:30 we packed up and headed back to clean up and meet Tom.
     Tom had set up a meeting with Tres Clements to check out the Rutan Boomerang. Burt Rutan designed and built the boomerang in 1996 to be the safest twin engine plane ever. It's asymmetrical design with forward swept wings is truly unique. The cabin is situated to the right of the center of the aircraft. On the other side is nacelle with the second engine.
     The entire aircraft is constructed from carbon fiber. The wings are wet wings with internal spars and ribs. The spar runs through the pressurized cabin, behind the pilots seats. The doors have seals and latches that mechanically make it impossible to open the door in flight due to the pressure differential.
     Tres came by the boomerang while working for Rutan's company, Scaled Composites. Burt was unable to fly the boomerang any longer but didnt want to see it grounded. He gave it to Tres for as long as he would maintain and fly it. Tres has received donated gear and avionics that make the plane easier to fly. He still flies it about once a month but says it is a busy cockpit. Meaning the plane takes lots of management and pilot input to keep it flying right.