It looks like they have made it a long way in the past almost year since the last post.
This is their October update:
https://www.darkaero.com/updates-files/oct-2023.html

Their engineering approach makes me wonder what Peter is up to …

Maybe he submitted a resume after he saw them using machined aluminum for the side stick control base.
…just kidding! It wasn’t made out of angle iron!

Love watching their build videos. I hope they do well. Seems like a great design and looks to be a performer.

Been taking a really long time and I am sure way longer than they ever expected.

Mike

Yeah, "90% done, 90% left to do" is a real thing.

Looking at how far along they were two years ago I would not have expected they'd still be working on major systems at this point.

Amazing how long things can take when you do them right.

You don’t know what you don’t know. For every system you put together you find issues. Then the fixes cause new issues. It’s a never ending loop until the issues are bearable.

This is why I worry about Hill helicopters. They have so many systems not tested and will be hit with a lot of unknown issues. It’s easy to make it look like there is a lot of progress with all these parts made but until the systems are tested together you don’t know what you are up against.

Like Eclipse Hill will most likely be years past their milestones. Only thing hill and Dark Aero has going for them is they will be experimental so they can get away with a lot of issues.

R&D in aircraft is a huge undertaking. It’s fun to watch though.

Mike

Fortunately Dark Aero didn't put an unrealistic deadline on it, so they can do it correctly. They also have their classes to help fund their development. Since they've taken the time to design things so they can actually make more than one, I do think they will eventually be successful. Once they get on the downhill and get it in the air, things will move quickly and all of this groundwork will pay off.

There is great demand for a cool looking, cool sounding (" it's carbon fiber!"), fast, and relatively affordable aircraft. And it has legs. I wish it had deice, but this will at least keep people out of the ice altogether which may end up being safer. I expect this will open up homebuilding to a new market.

The rudder design does seem odd, though. Hopefully it doesn't handle poorly once they get it up. I'm betting on a 1/3 chance they end up putting in a conventional rudder. The only other aircraft I know that has a rudder like that is the space shuttle, and it's nicknamed the flying brick.

Agreed

I too think they will be successful. And I have never heard them give a finish date. So that’s good.

Funny thing is I have zero need for the Darkaero but want one. Haha.

Mike

The fixed geared staggerwing has a split rudder.

I thought it was funny that they cited an airplane that was quickly obsolete as rationale for their split rudder design. I bet that it ultimately gets replaced by a regular rudder.

Well also the airplane they cited didn't really have a split rudder design in the way they were using it as an example.

Then again, I don't have an engineering degree. They did seem to use the CFD more as a way to compute drag rather than undesirable handling characteristics though, so we'll see. My common sense question is why didn't the combined engineering teams at so many companies not do this.

I didn't realize the staggerwing did. Anyone have a link? Can't find any photos of this, or info of why they ditched it.

Well, I found the Beech split rudder... from Dark Aero. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, seems like they have thought it through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHO2aHXxoh8

See below for the Staggerwing split rudder!

The Darkaero team has described their rudder design as similar to the Rutan Varieze/Longeze rudders pushed together. If you didn't know, in those designs, both rudders on the winglets are held fair by springs and deflected outboard by pressing on their respective pedal, the pedals are not interconnected. Pushing the left pedal deflects the left rudder outboard, causing a yaw to the left, and the right is the mirror image. Pushing them both together deflects them both outboard and acts as a drag brake.

They describe it in this video essentially as the Rutan rudder design brought together into a single surface with two halves:

https://youtu.be/GyyeemRG_xo?si=ddbuOluVgm8OnYOs

I hope it works out well for them, it should be a nice way to slow down a clean airplane as long as there are no other drawbacks found in testing. I've read some doubts about it in that it's complex, will increase drag during a yaw input, and has no rudder trim, but remember that a lot of us here are flying around in pretty amazing high-performance airplanes with unconventional tails and no rudder trim... so maybe it'll work after all. Can't wait to see it fly.

I have about 4,000 hours in a LongEZ with what are effectively "split rudders" and a belly speed brake. The split rudders are **Very ** effective in creating more drag to get down , even more so than the belly "speed brake". No flaps on an EZ, just drag devices.

It took about 5 minutes to get used to the EZ's split rudders - if Dark Aero's version works as well as Rutan's they have a winner.