It's a bird, a plane, no it's...??

ridgerunner · Jul 26, 2013

Seen this the other day fly over my house...not quite sure what it was. I've been interested in military aircraft for yrs but I'm at a loss for what this is. It sounded like it had a piston or rotory engine from a WW1 aircraft, was flying level at about the speed of a small fixed wing civilian plane. I snapped a quick pick from my cell phone camera so the quality sucks. It appears to have a mildly swept wing with a front canard winglet on the front. Maybe has a pusher prop. No apparent cockpit or pilot at all. It was about the size of an ATV. Drone maybe?? Really not sure. I've flown RC aircraft too and this is not one of those either. Now that I've posted it up, I hope I don't get a visit from...?

brinker88 · Jul 26, 2013

Drone

RonD · Jul 26, 2013

Looks like a Rutan VariEze, but depending on size could be a drone

MastuhWaffles · Jul 26, 2013

That's a bit scary if it's a drone.

JoshT · Jul 26, 2013

It is possible that it is a drone, but I've never seen one with that configuration. I'm no drone expert so there very well could be one.

Personally I think it's a homebuilt aircraft. While not the most popular homebuilt design, there are a quite a few canard designs out there. Few examples of currently offered homebuilts matching your description:

Velocity XL

Photo from Aircraft Spruce

Cozy Mark IV

Photo from >HERE<

Rutan LongEZ

Photo from >HERE<

85_Ranger4x4 · Jul 26, 2013

We got buzzed by three AT-6 Texans in formation yesterday morning. They were migrating to the Oshkosh airshow that is starting up next Monday. It is sponsered/hosed by an experimental aircraft club which is probably what your plane is... and maybe where it was headed.

triumphrider-1 · Jul 26, 2013

JoshT said:
It is possible that it is a drone, but I've never seen one with that configuration. I'm no drone expert so there very well could be one.

Personally I think it's a homebuilt aircraft. While not the most popular homebuilt design, there are a quite a few canard designs out there. Few examples of currently offered homebuilts matching your description:

Velocity XL

Photo from Aircraft Spruce

This gets my vote. Altitude is not the easiest thing to know from the ground...

straycat · Jul 26, 2013

triumphrider-1 said:
This gets my vote. Altitude is not the easiest thing to know from the ground...

^^^What he said. It looks like a homebuilt plane. Neat photo, too bad you had no zoom lens..lol

ridgerunner · Jul 27, 2013

Possibly the Cozy Mark IV but even that is 3 times larger than what I saw. The pic I posted looks like it's quite high up but it's about twice tree top level. It was headed in a northeast direction from northcentral PA towards NY state. Like I said the noise was very distinct from anything else I've heard, kinda loud for its size and def. a piston or rotory engine that's not too (for the lack of a better word) "new" or not a new design. Seems like a drone would be quieter IMO.

Larry's shee · Jul 27, 2013

big brother is watching you, cheap drone, not worried about sneaking up on us

ridgerunner · Jul 28, 2013

Larry's shee said:
big brother is watching you, cheap drone, not worried about sneaking up on us

Meh, could be...too bad it's out of shotgun range.

Andy D · Jul 28, 2013

Home made RC plane ? I met a guy who used a weed wacker motor on a mono wing plane. It had a 6' wing span If you saw it or heard it , it was a hobbyist. Our tax supported drones are better than that. I hope

ridgerunner · Aug 1, 2013

Well I think I solved it. I did work for a Lt. Col. in the US Airforce today. He flies C5A Galaxies. I showed him the pic and without a half a second hesitation he said it was a Long EZ, the same one John Denver died in when it ran out of fuel. Before I even explained anything he asked me if it was loud and sounded different. He said it is due to the pitch of the prop (went into details on props that went way over my head). Nice to meet such interesting folks sometimes.

Andy D · Aug 1, 2013

Thanks for the follow up :icon_thumby:

It's a bird, a plane, no it's...??

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