No video up on youtube yet. I have to conclude that probably means the flight did not go as planned. Executing the abort plan to get back to the airport, and a lack of a celebration video indicates to me that Peter is likely reviewing the footage and trying to figure out how he can spin whatever happened and try to explain it away. I would think if it was a successful and uneventful first flight Peter would have posted something by now.

Looks like he got to 500’ according to flightaware.

Here’s a video some else took of his test flight take-off.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/uLO2xdDGLqk[/youtube]

Different view, including the start of the takeoff - really puts the overall ground roll into perspective.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/P6VzcheNbW4[/youtube]

Flight Tracker is reflecting a departure on 17 and a return landing on 4. It also reflects a steady drift to the right/West after liftoff as shown in the video. The track also shows a series of partial turns to the right to align with 4 rather than a smooth, continuous turn.

He did not complete a full traffic pattern, returning to land on 17. I am guessing that he found the ride interesting.

Care to back up that claim?

Most people seemed to think that it would fly, but not very well.

Could have been. He did say on the last video that if engine temps weren’t under control he’d throttle back and land on 04. Im guessing that’s what happened. Certainly the flight did not complete optimally.

Holy crap!

You know a lot of planes have that kind of ground roll.

They’re called jets.

I’m not sure what’s the worst of what I’ve said publicly, but I was pretty sure it was going to crash off the end of the runway. He beat that by some 600 feet, while turning back to an adjoining runway.

Just posted on the previous YouTube video:

Whine much Peter? The guy puts out videos almost daily for the most trivial stuff, and when he finally flies it he chafes at calls for a video.

The project is past the point of redemption. He's got temp problems, massive weight problems, and still has to pressurize it.

I didn't take his reply as sounding irritated, rather more tongue in cheek knowing his audience, but who knows.

I'll be interested to see his post flight comments. I agree that there are some enormous issues to overcome. As a proof of concept, he's proven that it can fly. If that gets him the balance of the R&D money, he can start working on the issues preventing it from being a viable airplane, but realistically? My money is staying in my pocket, I'm just here for the entertainment.

What makes me happy is that this aircraft made it back on terra firma and the builder is safe. He may have soiled his britches with the wobble and anemic climb but he made it and not in a CrashTalk thread. That would have put an unnecessary spotlight on experimental aviation. It's still an overweight pig but he put enough engines on it and it flew.

Congrats Peter. I was wrong about this ending up in CT and apologize for that.

Only if he never tries to fly it again. Otherwise, there’s plenty of room in CT for this “airplane.”

That is very classy Bob. Thanks for setting that standard.

First flight video is up. Man, I will say he has a huge set of balls of being the test pilot. But, it amazes me that he thinks that thermals or the gear down is causing those oscillations. Even if was, who wants to try to land an aircraft and the doing all that crazy crap? Could you imagine in a nice crosswind. No thanks. Dude needs to get a real test pilot to fly it and let them tell him what's going on. And based on those temperatures, he has to have zero airflow around that engine. He needs to figure that out before he even cranks it again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H9a2tG ... e=youtu.be