Canards-- what a canard!!!
Okay, all you aero junkies:
When I was a kid, Burt Rutan was everybody's hero, and the canard planform was the answer to everyone's quest for maximum efficiency. You know the argument, the canard up front has a lifting force in the upward direction, and the wing also has a lifting force in the upward direction, where a conventional stabilizer back at the tail must endure an efficiency-consuming download to counter the lift/weight couple. Canards resist the stall because the forward 'wing' stalls before the main wing can stall, the downwash from the forward 'wing' induces just the right downward flow for the upward swing into the leading edge of the main wing, etc., etc.
So, WHERE ARE ALL THE CANARDS???? Why do all the World Class sailplanes with a glide ratio of close to 60 to 1 have conventional tails? Why do all the pylon racers at Reno have a conventional tail? Why do all the corporate jets and fighter planes and RPVs and bush planes and flying boats and puddlejumpers and just-about-everything-else all have conventional tails?
The Rutan Vari-Eze was supposed to be the shape of things to come. In the years since, the Beech Starship has fallen into ignonimity and the Solitaire is a relic of the fanciful notions of the past. WHERE ARE ALL THE CANARDS???
Don't even get me started on flying wings!