Start here
A few places to begin, from the aircraft’s story to the people who fly it.
Meet the aircraft
Bob Pond commissioned Burt Rutan's Model 158 Pond Racer, built by Scaled Composites as an alternative to racing restored warbirds. The twin-boom composite aircraft used automobile-derived piston engines and appeared at Reno in 1991.
Aircraft background
VSKYLABS · Read more ↗The hypothetical PT6A-powered racer
This released simulation is a hypothetical turboprop development of the original piston-powered Pond Racer. VSKYLABS uses PT6A engines and a broader cross-country role; these are simulator modifications.
Model 158 PT6A concept · VSKYLABS · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
VSKYLABS · Read more ↗Into the cockpit
YouTube Aircraft Adventures · 4 min ·
Pond Racer: The first, and last Reno thoroughbred racer
A historical account of the Pond Racer project and its Reno racing ambitions.
Real aircraft · Scaled Composites Pond Racer
Watch on YouTube ↗Preview images are served by AirframeDB. Videos open on YouTube only when you choose to watch.
Meet Scaled Composites Pond Racer
Bob Pond commissioned Burt Rutan's Model 158 Pond Racer, built by Scaled Composites as an alternative to racing restored warbirds. The twin-boom composite aircraft used automobile-derived piston engines and appeared at Reno in 1991.
VSKYLABS' simulator product imagines a PT6A-powered development with a wider cross-country role. Its equipment and performance describe that hypothetical variant.
Scaled Composites Pond Racer
Scaled Composites → · Explore the family →
Scaled Composites Pond Racer
VSKYLABS · VSKYLABS Aerospace Simulations Aircraft Center: VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot': Rutan Model-158 ↗Model 158 hypothetical PT6A conversion
VSKYLABS · VSKYLABS Aerospace Simulations Aircraft Center: VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot': Rutan Model-158 ↗VSKYLABS · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12 →Aircraft type designators
A model-specific ICAO or FAA designator has not been confirmed in the references reviewed for this aircraft.
History & design
A proposed alternative to racing warbirds
Bob Pond commissioned Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites to create a modern racer for Reno. The composite twin-boom aircraft appeared there in 1991 with automobile-derived engines. The original programme ended after a fatal crash in 1993.
VSKYLABS · VSKYLABS Aerospace Simulations Aircraft Center: VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot': Rutan Model-158 ↗Original Pond Racer versus VSKYLABS Model-158 concept
The simulator takes a different propulsion path
VSKYLABS began its Model-158 project in 2021. It substitutes PT6A turboprops and expands the concept toward cross-country operation. This is an explicitly hypothetical derivative of the Pond Racer, not the powerplant configuration of N221BP.
VSKYLABS · VSKYLABS Aerospace Simulations Aircraft Center: VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot': Rutan Model-158 ↗Original Pond Racer versus VSKYLABS Model-158 concept
Systems & details
Systems for the fictional derivative
The turboprop interpretation includes pressurization, icing protection, oxygen, fuel-management and engine-protection systems. Those systems explain the add-on’s broader operating concept. Their presence and the developer’s virtual performance figures should not be presented as equipment or achievements of the original racing aircraft.
In your simulator
Systems, equipment and documentation for each developer’s aircraft.
X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12Model 158 PT6A concept
VSKYLABS · Released
Model 158 PT6A concept
VSKYLABS · Released
Manuals & resources
Find your next read
Choose a topic for a short introduction and a link to the original source. Simulator references identify the developer and edition they cover.
Simulator documentation
The hypothetical PT6A-powered racerModel 158 PT6A concept · VSKYLABS · X-Plane 11 · X-Plane 12
This released simulation is a hypothetical turboprop development of the original piston-powered Pond Racer. VSKYLABS uses PT6A engines and a broader cross-country role; these are simulator modifications.
Official developer / designated-store reference · checked 2026-09-14
VSKYLABS · Read the source ↗Read the original documentation from the people who created it. Manuals open on their publisher’s website.
Developer documentation
VSKYLABS Aerospace Simulations Aircraft Center: VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot': Rutan Model-158VSKYLABS · Official developer / designated-store reference · checked 2026-09-14 VSKYLABS Test-Pilot: Rutan Model-158. A highly engineered PT6A Pond-Racer variant add-on for X-Plane Flight Simulator.VSKYLABS · Official developer / designated-store reference · checked 2026-09-14Built-in force-feedback profiles
Read the documentary basis, editable starting settings and remaining questions for the aircraft you fly. Each explanation refers to the exact profile revision shown.
Catalogue programme-20261022-v1 · 2 profile choices
VSKYLABS Rutan Model-158 PT6A
VSKYLABS · Free and Pro · Revision 3 · Inherited starting point
X-Plane 12
VSKYLABS Rutan Model-158 PT6A: Mechanical linkage motivates speed-dependent stick resistance.
VSKYLABS Model 158 Pond Racer (turbine)
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
X-Plane 12 · X-Plane 11
VSKYLABS Model 158 Pond Racer (turbine): Mechanical linkage motivates speed-dependent stick resistance.
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