So what? Burt Rutan didn't build a spaceship, he built a X-prize-winning-machine. Is that a reason to deride his words?
In both cases, the people who set up the competition where perfectly aware of what they would get. Also, they were smart enough to make their challenge hard, but not impossible (some would argue Sikorsky set the target too high, as it took 30+ years to see a worthy challenger, but it is impossible to foresee how hard a problem is, and Gossamer Albatross had flown the channel in 1980. Also, Hilbert surely set some harder problems)
In both cases, the people who set up the competition where perfectly aware of what they would get. Also, they were smart enough to make their challenge hard, but not impossible (some would argue Sikorsky set the target too high, as it took 30+ years to see a worthy challenger, but it is impossible to foresee how hard a problem is, and Gossamer Albatross had flown the channel in 1980. Also, Hilbert surely set some harder problems)