As part of the 80th Anniversary celebrations of the Ottawa Flying Club, we have been very fortunate to obtain Mr. Burt Rutan as our guest speaker for the Wings Dinner.

Named Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. magazine and described by Newsweek as "the man responsible for more innovations in modern aviation than any living engineer", Burt Rutan is a bold entrepreneur and designer with the vision and passion for the advancement of technology. TIME Magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2006.

Mr. Rutan made international headlines in 2004 as the designer of SpaceShipOne, the world's first privately funded spacecraft. He reached another milestone when SpaceShipOne traveled to space twice in two weeks, winning the coveted $10 million Ansari X Prize, the competition created to spur the development of affordable space tourism.

He worked for the U.S. Air Force from 1965 until 1972 as Flight Test Project Engineer at Edwards Air Force Base, California on projects ranging fom fighter spin tests to the XC-142 VSTOL transport.

In June of 1974, at Mojave, California, Burt formed the Rutan Aircraft Factory (RAF) to develop light homebuilt aircraft. Through this company, the VariViggen, VariEze, NASA AD-1, Quickie, Defiant, Long-EZ, Grizzly, scaled NGT trainer, Solitaire, Catbird, and the world-flight Voyager aircraft were developed.

A few of the awards which Burt Rutan has received include:

 • Society of Experimental Test Pilots, 1987 J.J. Doolittle Award and 2004 J.J. Doolittle Award • Royal Aeronautical Society, British Gold Medal for Aeronatuics, December 1987 • Western Reserve Aviation Hall of Fame, Meritorious Service Award, 2 September 1988 • The International Aerospace Hall of Fame Honoree, 24 September 1988  •  National Aviation Hall of Fame Honoree, 21 July 1995  •  2000 Lindbergh Award by the Lindbergh Foundation, May 20, 2000  •  Scientific American Magazine's "Business Leader in Aerospace", November 2003  •  Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World", April 18, 2005 • 

Download the Burt Rutan Press Kit

For more information on Burt's recent aeronautical development work, go to www.scaled.com.

For information on his work with Richard Branson and the world's first spaceline, go to www.virgingalactic.com.

Wings Dinner

This year, the Wings Graduation Dinner and Dance will be held on Wednesday, May 14 at the Cleo Banquet Hall, 156 Cleopatra Drive (www.cleobanquethall.com).

Cocktails are at 6 PM with a sit down dinner at 7 PM followed by Mr. Rutan's presentation and awards.

Prices:

• $80 (GST included)
• $35 for registered CPAM or OFC students

Corporate Sponsors Needed

We are looking for Corporate Sponsors who may wish to buy a table and have their name associated with the event. For more information please contact , Vice-President Ottawa Flying Club at (or leave a message at the Ottawa Flying Club at 613  523-2142).