The idea for the Berkut didn't just fly down and bite Dave, (which is just as well, the real Berkut is an eagle powerful enough to catch a wolf) but gradually evolved over several years. Dave's company, Berkut Engineering, is based at Santa Monica Field; the birthplace of countless aeroplanes, as the Douglas factory was based here for many years. It is also where probably more Vari-and Long-Ezes are built and based than any other airport in the world, giving Dave a vast wealth of experience and expertise to tap. An experienced aircraft builder himself, Dave built a variety of kit planes during the 1980s, seven of which were Long-Ezes. During this period he also worked on another Rutan design, the world-girdling Voyager. His long association with the Long-Eze had convinced him that, good as the design was, there was plenty of room for improvement and when a customer, Don Murphy, asked Dave to consider building him an aircraft, Dave already had a pretty good idea what kind of aircraft it should be—a greatly improved Long-Eze.

Above • Berkut Engineering now recommends fitting a Lycoming IO-540 as standard, although the IO-360 is still an option. With an IO-540 fitted the rate of climb is an impressive 3000ft/min!

Top • The Berkut's cockpit features excellent ergonomics. Note the electronic engine instrumentation and sidestick.

Above left • The Berkut's very clean lines are readily apparent in this picture. The canard-arrangement ensures that the aircraft is essentially stall-proof.

Top Left • Due to the design of the nosewheel leg the Berkut is only cleared for operations from hard-surfaced runways.

Over the years, Dave had accumulated a number of sketches of just such an aeroplane and had had them lofted on a Cray super-computer. The Cray produced the templates for the bulkheads and fuselage, and as work progressed, the idea expanded from a single aircraft into actually producing kits. Thus, in 1990, the Berkut began to take shape. Shirl Dickey had already designed a retractable undercarriage for his E-Racer and a set was acquired, along with an agreement to enable the design to be used for future Berkut kits. Next came the engine, a Lycoming I0-360-BlA that had been balanced and blueprinted by Dick Demars, and then fitted with an electronic ignition designed by Klaus Savier. This enabled the engine to produce 205 hp at 2,700 rpm, The aircraft can also be fitted with a Lycoming I0-540. Savier's company, Light Speed Engineering, also built the propeller, a stubby birch core and carbon fibre unit called the 'Black Bart'. This propeller features an impressive 91in pitch and although it limits static rpm to 2000 it gives the Berkut its outstanding cruise performance, whilst still offering good take-off and climb characteristics. But enough of dry facts and figures, what's it like to fly?

Even just sitting on the ramp the aircraft looks good. Being of composite construction, the pre-flight is perfectly straightforward and provides an opportunity to admire the very high standard of workmanship. Dave told me that some other journalists had complained about the cockpit being difficult to enter, but I found the procedure quite simple and straightforward, certainly much easier than, say, a J-3 Cub. The dual canopies hinge at the rear like the F-4 Phantom and the fighter-like look is enhanced once you're in the cockpit, as the sidestick's pistol grip (from an F-86 Sabre) is bristling with HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) features. The cockpit is substantially larger than in a Long-Eze and while visibility from the back seat is good, from the front it is outstanding. The cockpit has been intelligently laid out and features some quite unusual instrumentation, the most interesting of which is the Rocky Mountains Instruments Micro-encoder. This is an electronic pitot-static computer, which can display true airspeed, instantaneous vertical speed, pressure and density altitude and outside air temperature. It is equipped with an RS-232 output port and when coupled with a GPS or Loran, could easily provide wind speed and direction. The rest of the panel is pretty well standard IFR, although the engine instruments are also well worth a mention. These are the seven Vision Microsystems ETI 800 gauges which are connected by a single ribbon cable to a data-processing unit mounted behind the rear seat. Transducers in the engine bay send information to this unit which processes and displays rpm and manifold pressure, oil temperature and pressure, cylinder head and exhaust gas temperatures and fuel pressure and flow. This information is displayed in both digital and analogue presentations. While preparing this article back in the UK I was interested to learn that Berkut Engineering now uses the Vision Microsystems VMS1000 for engine instrumentation. This unit incorporates all the information in a single display. read on--->