Peter Garrison

In May 1978, a 37-year-old machinist and his wife flew their odd-looking homebuilt airplane from Indiana to Mojave, California, to show it to its designer, Burt Rutan. Rutan, who had founded the Rutan Aircraft Factory (RAF) several years earlier and was now selling plans for VariEzes, looked over the plane, an all-wood canard pusher called a VariViggen, and admired the workmanship. He promptly invited the visitor and his wife to join his little company. They accepted.

Peter Garrison Fri, August 21, 2026 at 8:00 AM EDT 6 min read Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Add Yahoo on Google In May 1978, a 37-year-old machinist and his wife flew their odd-looking homebuilt airplane from Indiana to Mojave, California, to show it to its designer, Burt Rutan.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when an airplane stalls, the pilot must push its nose down. And yet it sometimes happens that even quite experienced pilots do the opposite. That was the case in February 2024, when two airline transport pilots, who had a combined total of more than 23,000 hours in their logbooks, conducted a post-maintenance stall check on a Hawker Beechcraft 900XP.