2005 Rough River Canard Fly-In Central States Association September 30th to October 2nd

Steve Wright's Stagger-EZ instrument panel is clean and neat.  What's that little red button in the upper right?

Terry Lamp's very nice Long-EZ.  Terry and Mike Toomey just returned from their big  Reno Air Race flying adventure.

Mike Toomey's very nice Long-EZ.  Terry and Mike flew down from Ohio.

Herb Rutter's Long-EZ has an interesting custom fit sun shield.

John Lambert's Varieze has almost 1500 hours on it.  Many of the EZ fleet have well over 1000 hours.

James and Sandy Redmon flew up from Texas in their relatively new Berkut, which has a bit over 80 hours on it.  Sandy was answering technical questions faster than James could reply.  They're clearly enjoying their new toy.  For a lot more info, check out http://www.berkut13.com.

The Redmon's Berkut instrument panel is nicely loaded.

Not all EZs are white.  Craig Gearhart's EZ is bright yellow.  It's easier to spot in the pattern, and a lot easier to spot on the ramp.

Phil Camarda flew down from Michigan in his Long-EZ.

Phil Camarda has a lot of interesting custom features on his Long-EZ.  The Rutan Aircraft Factory started with a P-51 style scoop for induction and cooling air, then later changed to a flush NACA scoop.  They called these male EZs and female EZs, respectively.  Phil's Long-EZ definitely doesn't suffer from "scoop envy".

Harry Manvel flies his beautiful award winning Defiant to Rough River every year.  Harry flies down from Michigan.

The instrument panel on Harry Manvel's Defiant is clean and efficient, just like the rest of the plane.

Chris Esselstyn's Cozy Mk IV has a 540 cubic inch engine.  Yow!

In addition to the big engine, this Cozy IV also has fully retractable landing gear.

And you thought bugs on the leading edges of the wings were bad.  Bill Kastenholz apparently nailed this big bird.  For those keeping score: Cozy: 1 Bird: 0

We're starting to get more Quickie and Dragonfly aircraft at the Rough River Canard Fly-In, but still nowhere near the numbers that would represent these popular designs.  This is Stephen Laribee's Dragonfly.

David Dugas flew down in his Q2.  These are very efficient planes, as the sleek shape would suggest.

One of the best parts of Rough River is camping under the wing of your Long-EZ.

Bob Sudderth's EZ has a very nice cover.

Rob Martinson flies in from Colorado in his fast Varieze.  Rob races a lot.

Barry Meacham has a little aviator bear mascot in his Long-EZ.  Here in Kentucky, we'd say, "Barry ain't right."

Yeah, that's a supercharger on that 540.  Jack Morrison's E-Racer did a low pass, and it's as fast as you'd expect.

This is a better view of the E-Racer with the supercharged 540 and full retract gear.  Note the upper cowling and turtledeck tilt up as one piece.  Nice.  This was the unofficial 2005 Rough River show plane, and it received a lot of well deserved attention.

The E-Racer has a clean instrument panel.

Not to be outdone by Barry's bear mascot, Frank Bibbee's Cozy IV is sporting a Taz sun screen.  Frank is from Bedford Texas, where a good sun screen is probably a very important piece of equipment.

We had fantastic weather again this year, but it was a bit sunny.  As usual, there was a spontaneous informal gathering under a small shade tree at the airport, where people visited and enjoyed each other's company.

Steve Beert has some very professional looking upholstery in his Long-EZ.  This is the front seat.

Here's the back seat upholstery in Steve Beert's Long-EZ.  The custom fit headrest that fills the turtle deck area is uncommon.  It looks comfortable and has a nice finished appearance.  It probably helps reduce some of the engine noise for the copilot.

Scott Carter's Long-EZ has draggage pods!  Scott is based near Dallas Texas.

A sleek looking full retract Velocity.

Most of the Velocity aircraft have very nicely appointed interiors, and this was certainly no exception.  The seats look like they came from an expensive hand built sports car.  The larger Velocity is unique among side-by-side canard aircraft, in having enough space between the seats to install a dual cup holder.

Carl Denk flies his Cozy Classic to Rough River every year.  Despite being built in 1993 and having the original paint, this Cozy always looks brand new.  The paint is gorgeous, and every other detail is perfect.  Carl is apparently retiring from the EZ life.  He had a sign on the front of the plane saying the engine and most other components are for sale.  The rumor is, to avoid manufacturer's liability, Carl is going to cut up this beautiful fuselage.  If true, it's a real tragedy.

From the looks of the bullet hole in his Varieze, it looks like Chris Cox has been dog fighting with an RV.

Ron Smith flies his VariViggen down from Anderson Indiana.  He made what looked like the lowest low pass of the day.  It's hard to believe that a spaceship like this is built almost entirely from plywood.

The E-Racer taxied out for takeoff.  He made a really fast low pass.

Here's a nice two ship fly by.  This almost looks Photoshopped, but it's real.  The two planes are both Variezes.  One belongs to Chris Cox from just south of Atlanta, and the other belongs to Mitch Goodrich from Tampa Florida.

There was a lot of flying at this year's Rough River Canard Fly-In.

Curt Smith flew in for the day from Illinois in his Cozy IV.  Here he is taxiing out for the flight back home.  Curt is a heck of a nice guy.  There's a lot of that at Rough River.

Here's Curt Smith on his takeoff roll.  He treated us to a fly by on his way out.

The Saturday evening get together has been at Terry Schubert's cabin in recent years.  This year, we all met at the airport building.  There were a lot of great prizes again this year.  We seemed to have a record crowd, and probably a record number of EZs as well.  The canard count varied between 68 and 73.  It's hard to tell with everyone coming and going so much. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.  Best of all, it was another safe canard fly-in.  It's time for you to start planning for Rough River 2006. Thanks to Terry Schubert, Sam Chambers and Dave Russell for making it happen, and thanks to all the canard enthusiasts who show up and make this such a wonderful event that gets better every year.

Nose Art On Tarmac Grazers Photo by John Lambert

Sunset, Reflections Of A Great Canard Kind Of A Day Photo by John Lambert

Shark Fin Soup Photo by John Lambert

Lots of canards were on display.  The planes, pilots and builders were readily accessible to anyone building, wanting to build, or wanting to fly. Photo by John Lambert