Rutan Defiant

Rutan Aircraft Factory · United States · first flew 1978 · light aircraft

The Rutan Defiant is a composite homebuilt aircraft designed by Burt Rutan featuring a unique tandem twin-engine arrangement with one tractor engine in the nose and one pusher engine in the tail, combined with a canard foreplane and no conventional tail.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Mid-mounted, swept
E — Engines	2 × piston, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	6.95 m fuselage
T — Tail	No tailplane

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Spot it by:

Canard pusher-tractor twin-engine homebuilt
Tandem engine arrangement — one tractor, one pusher
No conventional tail — canard foreplane configuration

Unmistakable for its tailless canard layout with engines at both nose and tail, composite construction, and the characteristic Rutan aesthetic of the late 1970s.

Specifications

The Rutan Defiant has a length of 6.95 m (23 ft).
It has a wingspan of 9.57 m (31 ft).
Its maximum speed is 342 km/h (213 mph).
Typical crew: 2.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in 1978, the Defiant was designed to provide the safety of multi-engine capability in a very efficient package. The counter-rotating engines eliminated Vmca (minimum control speed) problems of conventional twins. Plans were made available to homebuilders but few examples were completed due to the complexity of the design.

Variants

The Defiant remained a plans-built homebuilt type with no factory variants; individual aircraft varied in engine choice.

Where you'll see it

The Defiant served with private homebuilt aircraft owners and was not produced commercially.

Related aircraft

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