Above right - Glenn Waters' Berkut in flight. This was the first Berkut to fly In Europe. (Ed Hicks)

Far right - Looking more like a 21st Century Interceptor than a kitplane, the Berkut is guaranteed to turn heads.

The sidestick features electric trim for both pitch and roll, push-to-talk, autopilot disconnect and flip-flop for both Nav and Com. The throttle lever is mounted behind the transponder and it is possible to adjust the squawk with the left hand resting on the throttle. Like many other facets of the Berkut, this aircraft's ergonomics are on a par with a modern jet fighter.

Engine starting is standard fuel injected Lycoming and perfectly straightforward, although because the prototype had no squat switches it was necessary to both isolate the hydraulics electrics and ensure that the gear lever was down before turning the master switch on. With the engine purring away, we trundled off towards the active runway using differential braking to steer, as the nosewheel is fully castoring. Both the intercom and radio quality is excellent and there is even provision for a CID player! Standard take-off procedure is to use only partial power until 35 kts has been attained to avoid FOD to the propeller. As the rudders are well out of the propwash, differential braking is required to track the centreline until the airspeed begins to rise. Initial acceleration is adequate without being outstanding but the propeller has been optimised for the cruise, so the faster you go, the better it gets. However, the combination of cruise prop and small wheels does rather exclude the Berkut from grass strips, as I feel that the distance required to accelerate to takeoff speed could be considerable, particularly if the grass was long and/or wet. To be fair, Berkut Engineering's sales literature makes it plain that the aircraft is not suited to grass-field operations and in the US this is not really important as long, hard surfaced runways are plentiful. The Berkut was designed for hard runways and, as a European pilot who regularly flies from grass airfields, this aspect of its design was the only one that I could really criticise.

Applying gentle back pressure on the sidestick at around 56 kts, the Berkut lifted off smoothly at 60 kts. By the time the gear had retracted into the wheel wells, the Vy of 105 was rapidly approaching as the 'Black Bart' really began to bite. At Vy the Berkut is climbing at around 2,000 ft/min with quite a steep deck angle. Two minutes later we were at 4000 ft and I levelled out, trimmed forward and watched the air speed indicator needle begin its inexorable sweep around the dial. I've flown on a single 360 cubic inch Lycoming many times, but never at such speeds and as we punched through some light, choppy turbulence, the Berkut impressed me more and more. The engine is cooled via air scoops located at the bottom corners of the cowling, with a third scoop at the bottom of the fuselage providing air for the oil cooler and intake plenum. All the engine instruments remained comfortably in the green for the duration of the flight. The wing loading is around 17 lb/ft2 and this, combined with the stiff wings, gave a pleasantly firm ride— while the crisp controls and ample power made the Berkut feel more like a jet fighter than a home-built.

Indeed, of all the aeroplanes I've flown, the one that compares best with the Berkut is, believe it or not, the multimillion pound British Aerospace Hawk. In fact, as we rocketed along, it began to feel increasingly like a jet fighter.The apparent lack of a propeller, combined with minimal noise and vibration, the semi-reclined seat and short F-16-like switch-studded sidestick. The complete redundancy of the rudders, the flawlessly smooth wing, gracefully sweeping back to sleek, upturned tips and the absolutely outstanding visibility, all combined to give the impression that I was flying a 21st century interceptor. The high speed and ultra precise handling did nothing to dispel the Illusion.