I shot the following Burt Rutan, John Roncz and Dick Rutan aviation forums using a top quality consumer stereo video camera (Canon Hi-8 or starting in 2003 JVC mini-DV) on a tripod. All forums were shot from the front row, center seat at the annual Oshkosh forums.

I can duplicate the 2003 forums on DVD and the pre-2003 forums on virgin T-180 VHS, (sorry no PAL format), video tape cassettes for home or club viewing. Price and ordering details are at the bottom of the screen.  Generally, TWO forums can be copied on one T-180 cassette.  

The 2003 Forums on DVD are:

"Space Ship One" - Burt Rutan and Mike Melville, supported by a PowerPoint slide show, present never before seen details of the Scaled effort to win the X-Prize!  With project funding by one of the founders of Microsoft the project is far along in development.  Video is featured of test flights of the mother ship, "White Knight" and test firing of the Scaled designed and built rocket motor.  This was a very exciting forum and the crowd gave a standing ovation.

"Tend Talk Show" - Burt Rutan and John Roncz field any and all questions from the forum crowd in a radio talk-show format.  Some interesting questions included the Starship program and John's winning law suit against Beech Aircraft, John announcing he is "channeling" (like Shirley McClain) his airfoil designs, and near the end, Burt announcing that he and John have completed a new light aircraft that, although conventional looking, will revolutionize general aviation.  John said it was the most difficult design to date.

The 2002 Forums on VHS are:

The 2001 Forums on VHS are:

"Reflections" - Burt Rutan and Mike Melville reflect on the history of the Rutan Aircraft Factory showing dozens of pictures, (many never publicly shown before), from the very earliest days of the business.  Behind the scene stories from the beginning to the present of the most innovative sport aviation company.  Be sure to see the "mob" picture from the show-stopping arrival of at Oshkosh, you won't believe it!

"Tent Talk Show" - Burt Rutan takes the stage solo this year to host his own personal "phone-in radio talk show."  With half his brain tied behind his back just to make it fair, Burt accepts questions form the Oshkosh crowd who "call in" at this popular forum with every question imaginable.

"Life After Airliners" - Burt Rutan, Dr. Bruce J. Holmes, NASA, and a special guest aviation journalist James Fallows, discuss the problem of aviation "hub-lock" and what the next logical step society must take to move forward with the next generation in travel "after airliners".  Burt states the airliners are the Greyhound bus of transportation and will be replaced by a revolution in personal transportation with at landing pad "on every city block."  Dr. Bruce J. Holmes calls for the construction of 18,000 small airports to decentralize the massive hub system, while the journalist cautions that the public also needs to participate in the debate. Filmed by PBS news "McNeil-Lehrer News Hour" for an up-coming feature.

"Voyager: Aviation's Last First" - Col. Dick Rutan presents three mini-forums in one: The round the world flight of the Voyager with video of the nearly disastrous take-off run, The AN-2 landing at the north pole and crashing through the ice, and The first public showing of the July 21, 2001 flight of a rocket powered Long Ez.  You will NOT believe your eyes!

Rocket LongEz Test .  Photo by Xcor-aerospace.

"Tent Talk Show" Burt Rutan and John Roncz. Say it ant so! John Roncz says this is his last forum at Oshkosh. You won't believe what the boys are wearing for this last forum together! Questions form the Oshkosh crowd on everything from composite filament windings to the face on Mars.

"Life After Airliners" - Burt Rutan and Dr. Bruce J. Holmes, NASA. Dr. Holmes sets the stage for a new transportation system of the 21st Century based on the work done in the AGAT program, (Williams Research Jet engine), and Burt sharply criticizes the approach asking, "Where is the flying demonstrator NASA Administrator Dan Golden said would be at Oshkosh this year? How did we spend the $150 million?"

"Patterns in Nature" - John Roncz. John shows how nature responds to mathematica patterns including human behavior. He shows how the stock market also responds to these mathematical patterns in what he said is his last Oshkosh appearance. Fascinating! Even Burt Rutan sat in the audience to hear this one.

"Personal Transportation in the 21st Century"- Burt Rutan and Dr. Bruce J Holmes, NASA. An extension of the talk on Life After Airliners, but here the focus is on personal space travel using sub-orbital flights in personal space vehicles. Burt asks if NASA is holding us back saying last year out of an astronaut corp of 160, NASA flew three flights of seven people. He proposes scrapping one mission and putting the one billion dollars saved up as a prize for personal space travel.

"Adventures of Dick Rutan" - Col. Dick Rutan. In a new format, an EAA moderator interviews Dick about the many adventures in his life including Viet Nam, the Voyager, his balloon flight and recent rescue from the North pole after his AN-2 sank in an ice hole! Many new stories in a short, crisp format.

Chuck Yeager, Bud Anderson & Bob Hoover - I normally don't tape other forums but the chance to have all three of these heroes interviewed at Oshkosh was too good not to tape. Two hours of war stories, test flying and air show stories from three greats. Because of the length, I can only fit this ONE double forum in one cassette tape.

"Proteus: The New High Flyer From Scaled" - Burt Rutan. Burt shows video of the Proteus test flights that has never been shown in public before. A very interesting and informative forum. Includes video I shot of the Proteus doing fly-bys at Oshkosh '99 with Burt addressing the EAA show crowd, as well as a video ramp walk around shot at 6 AM to avoid the show crowds.

"Tent Talk Show" - Burt Rutan and John Roncz. As usual, a full hour of questions from the crowd at EAA Oshkosh '99. Burt and John get into a debate over how the next generation personal aircraft will look. Shot in the brand new large Verilux forum building as opposed to the old circus-style tent.

"Life After Airliners" - Burt Rutan and Bruce J. Holmes, PhD., continue their debate from last year regarding NASA's "AGAT" Advanced General Aviation Transport program which promises the engine, airframe and navigational gear to place personal aircraft in the hands of every one. Burt says NASA has it wrong and is not going far enough. A great forum!

"Gemini Technologies and the Explorer 360" - John Roncz talks about the development and flight testing of the Aussie Explorer 360. The test pilot and concept designer also speak, (which gets a little dry), and runs very long into the next forum. (May have to be edited for time to fit 2 forums on one tape).

"The X-Prize" - Burt shares the mic with a panel presentation on progress being made toward the X-Prize. Half of the $10 million prize money has been collected and video tape was shown of a new solid rocket motor that can be throttled.

"Around the World Again" - Col. Dick Rutan with Burt Rutan. Burt answers questions about designing the Voyager in the first 10 minutes of the forum and sets the record straight regarding Jena Yeager's allegations. Dick then recounts the Voyager flight.

"Message from Mojave: Update on Research and Development Activities" - Burt Rutan. Burt shows video and slides on the test flight of his latest design, "Proteus" a high altitude twin jet canard designed to cruse for 11 hours as an orbiting radio satellite. Mike Melville reviews the investigation of the John Denver Long Ez crash. Burt also makes a major announcement: a larger Boomerang is going to be certified and offered for public sale!

"Tent Talk Show" - Burt Rutan and John Roncz. An open forum driven by questions and comments from the Oshkosh crowd. Includes test flight video of the Proteus. Always a lively discussion.

"A Future Vision for General Aviation" - Burt Rutan and Bruce J. Holmes, Ph.D., make a formal presentation on NASA's "AGAT" Advanced General Aviation Transport program which promises the engine, airframe and navigational gear to place personal aircraft in the hands of every one. Burt said this is the most important issue facing the future of aviation and is his favorite forum for 1998.

"Designing a Homebuilt Jet"  - John Roncz. John takes the proposed Williams Research jet engine being developed for the NASA V-Jet II program and designs a two seat single engine aircraft around the promised low cost engine. Lots of slides and data on view-graphs.

"The X-Prize" - A panel presentation featuring Burt Rutan. Burt displays video of the first flight of his first stage entry in the X-Prize contest. The X-Prize offers $10 million dollars for the first person to fly a homebuilt space craft!

"Around and Around and Almost Around the World Again" - Col. Dick Rutan. Dick talks about the crash of the Global Challenge around the world balloon attempt and compares it to the Voyager flight. Dick is a master story teller!

"Mojave-Montrose Madness"  - Burt Rutan finally admits his designs are really reverse-engineering of crashed Roswell spacecraft! Includes an appearance of "The Men in Black"! Burt also gives a great explanation on the impact of the Williams FJX-2 jet engine and his work designing the Williams V-Jet II.  This is one of his best forums.

"Tent Talk Show" - Burt Rutan, John Roncz answer every imaginable question from the crowd but no lawyers! Includes the "Men in Black" skit.

"Rutan Aircraft Builder Support" - Burt Rutan, Mike Melville answer build.pilot questions on the Rutan Aircraft Factory planes. Mostly technical in nature, if you own or are thinking of a Rutan design, this is a good look at the "care and feeding" of the Rutan designs. Includes Mike talking about flying around the world with Dick Rutan in their two Long-Ezs.

"Trade-offs in Wing Design" - John Roncz in an Oshkosh Design College forum uses graphs to show the reasons why a designer picks one wing design over another. John is always very humorous and has the rare ability to put a highly complex topic into layman's terms. A very good forum!

"Around and Around the World" Col. Dick Rutan and Mike Melville show slides and discuss in detail the high adventure they undertook flying around the world their two Long-Ezs.  Some very hair raising moments!

"The X-Prize" - Burt Rutan, Dr. Peter Diamandis, Greg Maryniak, Byron Lichtenberg in a group presentation on the $25 million race to put three people in space with a homebuilt space ship!  Burt wants Aircraft Spruce to stock all the parts you will need!

V-Jet II flying knife-edge at Oshkosh. Photo by Bruce R Talbot

Photo by Bruce R Talbot

"Life, Universe, and Everything Else" - Burt Rutan, and John Roncz discuss why the Boomerang was designed asymmetrical and explain why all general aviations twins would be much safer asymmetrical.  A real eye-opening forum!

"The Future of Light Planes" - Burt Rutan in an Oshkosh Design College forum compares the Boomerang concepts to the future ideal GA plane.  Just tweaking the same old designs from the 1930s is not going to bring us a safer airplane!

"Tent Talk Show" - Burt Rutan, John Roncz, Mike Melville answer questions from the Oshkosh crowd on any topic, but mostly everyone want to ask about the radical new Boomerang.

"Unconventional Design Problems" - John Roncz in an Oshkosh Design college forum, shows color slides of all his design projects over the years and what problems were solved.  Here is a very special look into the problem solving process of one of the best aviation designers in the world!

"Reducing Drag" John Roncz. used dozens of charts and formulas to show how to reduce drag on any airplane, and the big mistakes many kit and production aircraft contain such as Glassair, Lanceaire, Cessna and Beech.  So you thought your sleek kit-plane was well designed?  You better watch this tape first!

"The Voyager-10 Years Later" - Col Dick Rutan relives the adventure of a life time, flying around the world, nonstop, non-refueled, in nine days. A real thrilling story told by a master story-teller.

Voyager at Oshkosh.  Photo by Bruce R Talbot

"Forward Swept-Wing Homebuilt" - John Roncz uses full color computer simulations to show the dozens of design changes to his homebuilt, the Forte'.  A wonderful look at how cutting edge aircraft are designed.

"The Aerodynamics of Dragons" - John Roncz at his very best!  A very funny look at the science behind the flight of fire breathing dragons. Can they really fly?  Even with a virgin?  John proves it once and for all!  Not to be missed!

"The Future of General Aviation"  - Burt Rutan looks into the 21st Century and you'll like what he sees: safer aircraft with revolutionary systems that are right around the corner.

I can put two forums on a special T-180 VHS HiFi stereo video tape.  I will also include Oshkosh fly-by footage related to the topic, (such as the V-Jet II, an inside tour of the Boomerang, or the main ramp exhibits), where tape space is available.

Let me know which programs you want, any mix is fine. Mail a personal check for $15 for one forum or $20 for two forums on a single VHS cassette, (sorry no PAL format), price includes all shipping charges to:

http://www.rutanaircraft.com/ The Rutan Aircraft Factory homepage

http://www.scaled.com/ Burt Rutan's commercial hompage

http://www.hallstar.net/dick.html Col. Dick Rutan's commercial homepage

http://www.DickRutan.com/ Col. Dick Rutan's personal homepage

http://sats.nasa.gov/ The A.G.A.T.E. program homepage, Dr. Bruce Holmes

http://www.unomaha.edu/~unoai/sats/holmes.html Dr. Bruce J. Holmes curriculum vita

http://www.airventure.org/ The EAA Oshkosh fly-in homepage

http://www.canard.com/csa/ The builders/pilot club for Rutan-type aircraft

http://hallstar.net/bruce.html The commercial homepage of Bruce R. Talbot, LongEz N112TG

http://members.aol.com/buzz112 The personal homepage of Bruce R. Talbot, Long Ez N112TG

Long Ez #112, N112TG by Talbot and Gooch, based at Chicago's Clow Airport.