In the world of homebuilt airplanes the number of plans or kits sold isn’t really a good metric of how successful a design might be. What matters is how many got finished, flown and years later still fly.
Tom Jewett and Gene Sheehan aspired to create a successful affordable sport plane. They teamed up with airplane designer Burt Rutan to create the Quickie, a single seat, tandem wing canard taildragger powered by a 20 horsepower Onan engine. It was unique looking, made of composite construction and very affordable. It would go ever 100 miles per hour on 20 Horsepower! Over 2000 sets of plans were sold. No one knows how many were completed and flown but there are quite a few and some still flying four decades later!
Keith Welsh is one of those. He finished and first flew his Quickie in 1989 and has been flying it since. He flies his little Onan powered Quickie like anyone would fly a factory built aircraft; He flies it everywhere! He's flown it to Oshkosh and back several times. Keith flew with the first Rutan Reunion Flight at AirVenture in 2019 and will be doing so again this year. Keith is a a fixture in the Quickie community, and we are proud to have him represent this great airplane design in this years 2024 AirVenture RAFE Rutan Reunion Flight. Meet Keith Welsh:
Keith Welsh:
From Marshall, Illinois
Farmer by trade
First flight of his Quickie, May 1989
Cruise 105 mph, Engine: 20hp Onan., 2 gal / hour
Over 450 hours flown.
Based at Terre Haute Regional Airport, Terre Haute, IN (KHUF)
Keiths Quickie was inspected by Burt Rutan who wrote in the POH, “This is the finest Quickie I have ever seen, Great Work, Burt Rutan 23 March 1995"
Meet the rest of the RAFE Rutan Reunion Flight in the coming weeks and see you at AirVenture 2024 on Monday, July 22nd for the Rutan Reunion Flight.
Ryszard Zadow
Founder and President, RAFE
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