I don’t think this is where the project dies. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the airframe, and with some qualified engineering talent on board it should be pretty easy to make it fly.

But of course it won’t ever achieve the published performance goals, it won’t be anywhere near ready for mass production, and it will cost way more than projected.

Unfortunately the escrows are likely structured to pay out when the first flight milestone is achieved, which means he’ll get more other people’s money to screw around with for a few more years before it all goes belly up.

I am encouraged from the Test pilots evaluation and Peters ability to focus and solve the problems.

There are a lot of great things about the design. This really is a prototype and proof of concept. It' OK if the proof of concept proves it will not achieve the previously expressed performance or cost numbers. Many projects never do. But that does not mean it will not still be a great design.

It's going to take a lot of work and money to refine this prototype to a production kit. If the plane does well in testing I think he will get the support and the funding to get to the next step.

But I think he is not even half way there. It's the last 20% that takes 80% of the time and effort.

Mike

Yeah, I think if someone took the concept and redid it to get the weight down, it would be a nice aircraft.

I think most people's problem is he is using other people's money. He's gone through $2.7 million. If he flies it, I think it won't meet the projected performance numbers. But, he will still ask to release the escrows. If he gets 1000 people to agree, that's another $2 million. I don't think that's enough to go back through this design and get it right, much less setup a production facility to produce the kits.

The whole idea behind this project was to 1) Have something affordable 2) Use an alternate diesel engine. At the end of the day, I think this would be a $400k aircraft once you get all the R&D and production up and running plus try to make a profit. He has already talked about trying to get some investors for setting up production. New investors aren't going to go for "at costs" for these kits.

Unless you are one of the people that he is taking money from then I would not comment on it. I don’t see anyone complaining about the financial arrangement. They are all adults and knew the risk going in. Peter strikes me as a honorable good communicator. He is not the typical fly by night take everyone’s money kind of guy. If it all goes to crap I am sure every single person with money in kind of expected it.

If it is $400k then it’s still a great project. A 5 seat pressurized plane that runs on Jet A for $400k would be very popular. Even if it only performed like a PA46 piston it’s still a great value.

We don’t know what the performance will be yet so no reason to judge it. It’s all speculation.

I wish him the best and am encouraged that he will get there. He does not seem to give up easily.


Mike

On the first page of this thread, supporters were all enthused about anticipated performance and expected cost (note the Subject). Now, it looks like a win if he gets it to fly once without killing anyone. No one expects anything like the originally stated performance or cost. Without them, I don’t even see why this thing is newsworthy.

Yeah - a 96 page thread on vapor.

And the fact it was a pipe dream was obvious starting with the original claim, let alone the first page. 5 seats, single engine piston, pressurized, 3600 nm range.... uh.... no.

Oh, and forgot the fact it was going to cost $130K....

The test engineer in the video kept commenting on how big the cabin is. It's possible to still have a "big" 5-place cabin and still shrink it down from the current size in order to save weight and reduce drag.

His powerplant choice still seems like a loser to me.

Do you have any time working on, driving behind, or racing that powerplant?

I do. One of my favorite engines of all time.

My biggest two issues in regards to the powerplant are the redrive and no 2nd channel FADEC. You lose the one computer and you're done. I don't particular care for that. Maybe that's just me.

His power plant choice is the only part that’s really interesting to me. Otherwise it’s a pressurized Velocity.

Two of those engines on a pressurized twin, now that’s interesting.

Do you have any time working on, driving behind, or racing that powerplant?

I do. One of my favorite engines of all time.

My biggest two issues in regards to the powerplant are the redrive and no 2nd channel FADEC. You lose the one computer and you're done. I don't particular care for that. Maybe that's just me.

Just pull the chute.

Just pull the chute.

Dang... I hadn't thought about that.

Me either.