Just watched his latest update. Raptor won't be flying anytime soon some major changes are needed. I feel bad for the guy. Seems like he is having a very hard time raising money at this point. He even mentioned the possibility of going back to work to try to make things work. We will see what happens next.

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

I am glad for his sake that the test pilots are actually looking at everything correctly.
This is not a sport aircraft... It is heavy, and the controls have to be real. The forces that will actually be applied on the control surfaces in flight will be significant.
When he moves his cameras in there... it is scary to see the stuff that he has done. And fuel lines are going all over the place... Not a problem...
Scary stuff
This may be the final nail in his dreams.

I really hope that he does not get frustrated and take it for a flight by himself... just to prove that he is right.

Talk about "scary stuff", did you hear him say that one of the cable retainers in the rear was "probably OK because it's movement is limited in one direction by hitting the floor and in the other direction it stops when it runs into the fuel line!

Then there's the big question of how didn't he know that having cable retainers that can rotate with the pulley sheave was going to be a problem. Makes me wonder what else he's never given any thought to.

Finally I just had to laugh when he showed that there's no problem with prop strikes because he measured 3 inches of clearance with a 7° nose up attitude simulated by blocking the nose up. Besides the likelihood of over rotating during takeoff or landing in gusty wind he's assuming that the runway is as flat and smooth as his hangar floor plus the fact that it's likely the main gear can flex up more than 3 inches.

Try as I might I just don't have much sympathy for the guy given how he wouldn't take advice from other folks with significantly better knowledge and engineering smarts.

And for the coup de grace he explained that he needs to secure more funding so he can pay his taxes. Seems like it might be hard to find someone willing to do that at this point.

He seems a little pissed they didn’t tell him the first time. Honestly, that’s stuff that literally any and everyone would think that’s a no go. And wasn’t it like a 30 item fix list last time? I wouldn’t expect them to catch everything wrong in one inspection.

What about the stick locking up with loaded ailerons so no elevator control. This thing seems like a pick your poison death trap.

Reality is a hard pill to swallow.

So would Gravity be, if that thing ever took off.

Paging Mr Close.

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?

When you ignore help and advice from experts for so long and now are forced to take the guidance of experts... it stings the ego.

Meanwhile at Velocity

https://youtu.be/2sHoFRTZJn0

Check out the canard and compare flight controls?

Frustration seems to be growing...

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

One of his hired engineers posted here a few times and based on those posts, Peter does not listen/comprehend/prioritize.

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

Maybe, but his approach to fixing stuff is the same as how someone would fix a fence. "Add an L-bracket here, and there, etc."

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