BeechTalk - BT - Raptor Aircraft 5 Seat Pressurized 3,600 NM Range Diesel

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 13:49

Username Protected wrote:

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I am genuinely worried that he’ll try to fly it himself, as-is.

And a lot of homebuilders are waaaaaaaay out of currency let alone current in a canard.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 14:11

Username Protected wrote:

I think you guys are forgetting that Peter had a lot of “experts” and engineers working on this project in the design and build phase. Fact is they seem to have let him down.

Very likely. But if that's the case, it's at least partially a leadership problem. If this project were ever to succeed, one wonders what Peter's role would have been. It appears he isn't an engineer, a test pilot, a designer, a leader, or a venture capitalist.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 14:15

Remember folks
Clyde Cessna failed and quit after a death. His relatives revived it and modernized it. Lots of great things are learned from a failure.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 14:18

Username Protected wrote:

I think you guys are forgetting that Peter had a lot of “experts” and engineers working on this project in the design and build phase. Fact is they seem to have let him down.

Very likely. But if that's the case, it's at least partially a leadership problem. If this project were ever to succeed, one wonders what Peter's role would have been. It appears he isn't an engineer, a test pilot, a designer, a leader, or a venture capitalist.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 15:27

Username Protected wrote:

I think you guys are forgetting that Peter had a lot of “experts” and engineers working on this project in the design and build phase. Fact is they seem to have let him down.

Peter admits he is not the right guy to design and build this prototype. But the money ran out and he is left to do what he can.

I had a project that I did with what I thought was the right Design team. The reality of my project was these guys tried to be too innovative and designed a bunch of stuff that worked great in the computer model but didn’t work in real life or wasn’t possible to even build. So I have had an experience like Peter is having. It’s very frustrating and he is doing what he can.

I admire Peter and it’s sad to see him continue to struggle with design issue that come from the beginning of the project. All the guys that said these things would work are long gone and got paid.

I think he is in a tough spot. Is it even possible to fix these issues and end up with a viable prototype? Even if so how can he turn it into a business with no capital. To go from working prototype to production is a huge amount of money and effort.

Mike

And if you read through the thread over on the honebuiltairplanes forum, you will see where several of those experts that helped him say that he wouldn’t listen to them.

He’s finding out the hard way that a design with this many goals Isn’t going to cost $130,000 at the end of the day. It’s going to take R&D, time and money. He’s down to himself, out of time and money

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 16:03

Username Protected wrote:

He’s finding out the hard way that a design with this many goals Isn’t going to cost $130,000 at the end of the day. It’s going to take R&D, time and money. He’s down to himself, out of time and money

That's likely the biggest issue - he set some pretty lofty goals in a LOT of different dimensions. New/unproven powerplant, new airframe, somewhat new materials, pressurization...and some fairly optimistic performance goals on top of that.

It would've been better to take a proven airframe like the Velocity and work out the powerplant...then iterate. Would also show demonstrable progress in shorter timeframes. :shrug:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 16:48

Username Protected wrote:

I think you guys are forgetting that Peter had a lot of “experts” and engineers working on this project in the design and build phase. Fact is they seem to have let him down.

Mike

Who were these engineers?

The only other person I have heard about on this project is Jeff Kerlo.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 22:26

Username Protected wrote:

He’s talking about redesigning the elevator control and the time required. Mentions the engineering that will have to go into it to get it to work. He’s made it this far with out doing any engineering, why start now?

His concept of "engineering" differs significantly from mine. He also mentioned "cut and try" more than once and in my book that's not engineering, I'd call that "experimenting", a completely different process.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 04 Jun 2020, 08:00

He is still so far disconnected from reality, I don’t understand what he is thinking. Even if it flies, he is going to have to build a new prototype incorporating massive changes before he can even think about viable kit production. Where does he plan to get money for that?

Also, how many failures is it going to take before he realizes his philosophy of trying the quickest easiest cheapest fix first is what is taking so long and costing so much. Design a proper control system FIRST and then build it.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 04 Jun 2020, 09:03

Heck, I still wouldn't own one unless and until he gets a dual channel FADEC for that engine and prop.

A single tuning computer with no backup is like flying around on one mag all the time. Eventually it's going to bite you.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 04 Jun 2020, 09:10

That's crazy talk Rich
I have a single tunable chip in my old corvette and i can do 2, sometimes 3 trips all the way to town (11 miles) without an engine problem.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 04 Jun 2020, 09:18

Username Protected wrote:

That's crazy talk Rich
I have a single tunable chip in my old corvette and i can do 2, sometimes 3 trips all the way to town (11 miles) without an engine problem.

lol - nice.

I'm doing a 72 Convertible restomod and putting an EFI system on it that has its own laptop for tuning and hoping to do a *little* better than that but at least I can pull over and wait for my flatbed ride home.

:lol:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 04 Jun 2020, 14:57

Username Protected wrote:

I think you guys are forgetting that Peter had a lot of “experts” and engineers working on this project in the design and build phase. Fact is they seem to have let him down.

Mike

Who were these engineers?

The only other person I have heard about on this project is Jeff Kerlo.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 04 Jun 2020, 15:06

There's a pretty big difference between an "expert" and an "engineer".

And while Kerlo may have been around airplanes for a while, he is definitely not an engineer. And I think expert is questionable.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 04 Jun 2020, 16:45

Seems like I heard the name Mark mentioned in many of the videos. He was the main engineer I think. In the earlier videos I do remember them having others work on various parts of the design at times. This was all contracted out I assume. So no Peter is not the engineer and yes in the end he will get the blame for whatever this massive heavy thing turns out to be.

For others wondering about where he will get the money for the Raptor 2.0 that will need to be developed to incorporate all the changes. Remember once it flys all the money sitting in escrow right now drops into his bank account. $2000 per deposit is what was required I think. I can't remember how many deposits he took 1500-2,000 maybe? He stopped taking deposits at some point, but anyway thats a lot of cash... but its gotta fly first.