Quickie
These figures describe a typical build. Each aircraft of this design was built by its owner, and the one you are looking at may differ.
The Quickie is the single-seat tandem-wing design Burt Rutan drew for Tom Jewett and Gene Sheehan in 1977, sold as a kit from 1978: a 244 lb composite aeroplane with its wheels on the canard tips and an 18 hp Onan industrial engine, quoted at 121 mph cruise and nearly 500 miles on about 1.5 gallons an hour.
A Quickie is a curiosity more than a travelling machine: one seat, 237 lb of useful load including fuel, an industrial engine that struggles to make the published numbers on a warm day, and a canard that loses lift in rain. Most surviving examples have been re-engined with larger Onans or small Rotaxes, the canard-tip gear makes crosswinds and ground handling the critical skills, and there is no two-seat version to train in, so the pilot's preparation and the builder's foam-and-glass workmanship are the whole risk picture. Weights are from the 1978 kit and real aircraft are heavier; the weight-and-balance governs. The owner may maintain it and the condition inspection needs an A&P or the repairman certificate; support is the Quickie Builders Association.
Variants of the Quickie
- Quickie · 1978 · 25 active · this page
- Quickie Q2 · 1980 · 69 active
Also consider
TAILFAX SCORE
Partial: 9.8 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)
Among 1–2 seat pistons (321 models)
Compare with…
Put Quickie side by side with up to three other models.
- Quickie
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What it is
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tailwheel |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Onan B48M industrial engine (18 hp; 20-22 hp Onan and Rotax conversions fitted) |
| Horsepower | 18 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1978 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 105 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 430 nm |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | 425 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 41 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 237 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 480 lb |
| Empty weight | 244 lb |
| Usable fuel | — |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | — |
|---|---|
| Price, high | — |
| Prices as of | — |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 256 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 25 |
| Median year built | 1985 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 40 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 40 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 1 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 4 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 25 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 25 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 25 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 7.4 of 103 |
| Support | 2.2 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 0.2 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | Partial: 9.8 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)6 |
- Accident record: class median 36.69 · 321 models in class.
- Severity: class median 13.04.
- Access: class median 1,000.
- Support: class median 77.5.
- Liquidity: class median 20.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 7 · scores Sep 30