The canard is the forward wing that gives this aircraft design a special look. It allows the Berkut to be stall-proof by assuring that the main wing never reaches critical angle of attack. The canard is fitted with trailing edge slotted flaps which act as elevators. It is also loaded much higher than the main wing so the canard will stall first during high angle of attack (AOA). When the canard stalls, the nose drops, lowering the AOA of the main wing and preventing a full stall. This feature makes this aircraft configurations one of the safest on the market today. It may look odd, but if you think about it, the very first airplane "The Wright Flyer" was of this similar design.

Construction is very similar to the wings. First the leading edges are removed and the foam cores are jiged into correct position. Hard-points are installed that attached the mounting tabs to the, soon to be, shear web. After the hardpoints are installed, a fiberglass shear web is constructed just like in the main wings. Because the canard is much smaller, it was necessary to use wooden dowls to 'jig' the leading edge back into place.

In the above picture, I (Please note it's now winter. The plastic walls in the background allowed the hanger to be heated to minimum temp.) am wetting the multiple layers of UNI cloth on the surface of the canard. You may notice the black strip under the glass - that's the carbon fiber spar cap. The Berkut canard is exceptionaly strong and will not distort under load. Long-EZ canards had a tendency to "smile" at you when you loaded the plane with a few G's. The strategic use of carbon really improved the overall handling of the aircraft.

As I mentioned, at this point the camera died. I was going to get a good one for Christmas and I didn't have any money to waste, so.....there's a picture gap. I don't have any pictures of the canard or the elevators. I will endeavor to take some and post on this page in the future. Till then you will have to use your immagination. Sorry....