I have not seen the fan set up. But if there are fans in front of coolers the air flow will be restricted. Automotive applications have fans because they do not have the air flow. Air planes do not have fans which is why they get hot on the ground.

His fans may help him on the ground but hurt in the air. Again not sure why he cares how it cools on the ground. Really seems like this is a simple engineering exercise. You know the heat load and you know how efficient the coolers are at removing the heat. Do the math.

In contrast Mike Patey knows exactly how much cooling he needs for his engine. And he made sure to design enough headroom to have it not be an issue. Its just math and engineering.

I don't think my 421 would stay cool for a 90 second full power run on the ground.

Mike

Ground cooling is important. Not for full power. But need to be able to sit and taxi in a long queue. Can’t just rely on thermal mass, that might have worked for a WW2 fighter but not in the modern world. That was one of several issues with the LS installation those guys tried in the raven Comanche clone.

If you go back to one of his older videos that show where the intercooler and fans are located, you could put 10 fans on it and it will never cool properly

Ground cooling can be tricky due to minimal airflow, tailwinds, etc.

On one twin turboprop, we thought we were marginally OK on oil cooling until the test pilot said the proper test condition was in high idle (for ACM operation) in beta at about zzero blade angle.

I hate to say it, and I don't wish ill on anyone. But it's time to fly this thing, or pull the plug on the project. In my opinion he is going to have to do it. At this point I don't think many test pilots will want the job. Not because of the plane but because working with Peter seems to be a challenge and he has that reputation now. It seems like he is stalling to me right now. I am sure he is running short on funds again by this point. I don't see him raising any more money until he gets it in the air. The time has come, fly it, or die trying. Fly raptor fly

I’d rather see it destroyed in one of these ridiculous high speed taxi runs before it flies. No one should fly that thing. Just end it now in a way that causes minimal personal injuries.

I prefer an overheating incident that starts a fire.

The tower guys must really love him.

I'd rather see it fly, but with a JATO mod using model rocket motors. I mean like a pack of several of those big F or G honkers.

Oh, I think it's going to fly. I think he will make a few laps and come up with some reason he can't do performance runs to show how fast it is. Then, he will make a case for the release of the escrows and we have another 2 years for this thread. If he takes too long, the re-drive will come apart or the TDI will fail because of his high EGTs. I would like to see him really test it out just to see if the hp numbers some of the guys have run are correct (<250 hp). Since, he has made a case of Raptor vs SR22. It better beat it.

Honestly, I’d like to see the airframe scrapped and the engine project continue on and see how far it might go.

Whether the engine succeeds or fails is less relevant than the learnings produced. The engine is also more than enough project to keep a good engineer busy for years.

The airframe is nothing groundbreaking. Just a tutorial on how not to develop an airframe.

I wonder how much it would’ve cost him to stick the engine on the back position of a Skymaster to prove it out.

I have no doubt he'll soon fly it, and he'll probably land safely.

What he'll never accomplish, is executing or completing a formal flight test program. Unless he hires someone...

You might be right, but he barely lands safely after his repeated ground effect runs.

Two kinds of people seem to get along fairly well on homebuilt test flights. Those that are well prepared, with lots of experience, who can analyze the situation, mitigate the risks, and fly a safe well executed test card. And then there are those who are too stupid to be scared.

Sadly Peter falls in the middle. He doesn't exude the confidence of either of the previous groups. The record of first flights completed by builders is poor, and most are well proven designs.

Peter is starting with lots of links in the accident chain connected before he turns the prop. Odds are he will get around the patch intact. But they are not overwhelming.