Long EZ Info
Photo by Lt. Col Dick Fechter
| Engine: | Lycoming 0-235-C2C |
| Horsepower: | 115 hp |
| Max. Gross Wt: | 1325 Lbs. |
| Empty Wt: | 886 Lbs. |
| Max. Fuel: | 52 U.S. Gals. |
| Range: | 1,390 nm 1,600 sm |
| Top Speed: | 190 kts 219 mph |
| Length: | 16 feet 9 inches |
| Wing Span: | 26 feet 1 inch |
| Height: | 7 feet 10 inches |
| Seats: | 2 |
The Long EZ (designed by Burt Rutan) is a home-built EXPERIMENTAL aircraft built from "scratch". With a set of plans, some fiberglass, Styrofoam and epoxy just about anyone could build their own airplane. Building time can range from several months to many years.
Long range efficient flight was the intent of the Long EZ's design. With 52 gallons of fuel staying in the air for over 10 hours and travel up to 1600 miles is possible. Equipped with a rear seat fuel tank, a Long EZ was flown 4800 miles. Another Long EZ with a stock non-turbocharged engine was flown to an altitude of 35,027 feet.
In addition to civilian use of the Long EZ, the United States Army used the Long EZ for military research. It was equipped with a forward looking infrared camera and used as a forward observation test aircraft.
If you can't afford a military fighter the Long EZ may be the next best thing. It's cockpit is equipped with a semireclined chair, side stick controller on the right console making aerobatics and long range flight very comfortable.
All airplanes can glide; however, the Long EZ is so efficient that with an altitude of 5 feet over the landing end of a runway, and an airspeed of 120 knots, the engine can be turned off, then the aircraft can climb back to an altitude high enough to fly a 360 degree landing pattern and land on the same runway.
As a result of the Long EZ's efficiency it has an airbrake on the belly and both wing tip rudders can be deflected outward to increase drag allowing the aircraft to descend at a higher rate.
Stalling most airplanes can be a bad thing. Long EZ's have a small wing (called a canard) in the front of the plane. Whenever a Long EZ has its airspeed decreased to a point that the airplane will no longer fly, the front wing will stall and fall just to the point where the aircraft is again flying fast enough to sustain flight. This design feature makes the Long EZ one of the safest airplanes ever built. It will not stall and fall out of the sky like other airplanes can. Because the airplane will not stall like most airplanes it will not spin.
When ever you see a Long EZ parked, the nose is on the ground. All the weight of the engine is behind the center of gravity; consequently, when the pilot gets out of the aircraft with the nose landing gear extended the plane can fall over onto the engine. Before the pilot climbs into the plane the nose landing gear must be extended.
