Evolutionary canard plane

Nevertheless, later the moment came when I wanted something more from my aircraft and dared to think I could add some value to the original Rutan's project.

Therefore, in 1987 I designed what I then called Stag-Ez (in assonance with Long-Ez and reference to the staggered seats, but also to the beautiful, elegant animal) and built it as a retrofit of my original Long-Ez which had been flying flawlessly since 1983. I used the same wings, centersection spars, engine (Lycoming O-235) and most of the hardware and instruments, modified strakes and cowlings and rebuilt the fuselage: what I got was the same seat capacity (2), with a lot more baggage room, without significantly losing performance.

This proved to me the concept and the advantages of staggered seats for the Long-Ez project:

COMPARED TO A TANDEM CONFIGURATION:
• more participation and fun for the passenger
• more baggage room
• larger instrument panel

COMPARED TO A SIDE-BY-SIDE CONFIGURATION:
• front seats allow for more room for the shoulders, being staggered
• better balance: a passenger up to 190 pounds doesn't require ballast's shifting
• pilot's view is not obstructed by passenger's presence on his right

In short, more utility and fun for the users, with a small weight penalty and barely measurable performance degradation.

Then, in 1999 I had to think how to rebuild my Stag after an accident on the Alps, caused by pilot's hypoxia.
So I decided to take the occasion to further refine I-MEZE, incorporating some characteristics of my Tristar2000 project that I had envisioned a couple of years earlier and then left in a drawer:

• fuselage of new design, for best aerodynamics and weight distribution
• retractable main gear for better performance and appearance in flight
• room for up to 3 seats for increased comfort and utility

Once again, the project was thought as a retrofit: canard, wings and centersection spar of the original version were incorporated in the new one.
Strakes (modified for main gear's retraction) and a number of components and instruments were reused in the new design, whereas a new engine was installed.

New parts were built, some of which had been designed for the Tristar project:

• molded fuselage halves in fiberglass/PVC sandwich, CAD designed
• fuselage bulkheads CNC machined out of a nomex/fiberglass blank
• molded plexiglass for canopy and rear windows
• engine cowlings with a new cooling pattern
• hydraulic retraction mechanism of my own design for nose and main gear

The present, new version was given the name Stag-EzR, for reference to the retractable main gear.

It's worth noting that the new weight distribution allowed by the longer fuselage, has brought further advantages:

• it can be parked stable on the ground in a horizontal position, no grazing attitude any more
• it can be flown within CG limits either with the pilot only (min. 165 lb.) or with front passenger (max 190 lb.) without need of moving ballast
• actually I-MEZE carries no ballast in the present configuration

Modifications of the new Stag-EzR version