Raptor Aircraft

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11: Peter Muller, Raptor Aircraft: I Believe I Can Fly and Build My Own Plane – Studiomouth Weekly Interviews - Wherever you are on life’s journey, you can make a difference. – Podcast – Podtail

Approximately 80 minute audio interview with PM from 2015
May have been posted before , I have only been following the Raptor saga for a couple of months.

First 40 minutes or so is about his life and career up to the Raptor idea
The guy obviously has some good business experience and organizational skills
Became a pilot and decided most small aircraft lacked room and comfort and the big ones were too expensive.

Became involved with Velocity to contribute design improvements but they lost interest so he went on his own
Created a lot of interest among pilots and customer deposits were forthcoming

Wanted a turbo prop but price was high and fuel costs high and customer interest dropped right off.
Pretty much a show stopper until he penciled out the low cost of automotive diesel and high economy
All of a sudden pilot and customer interest spiked to an all time high
This enthusiasm has fueled him during the intervening years

I feel this customer enthusiasm overtook his sensibilities and the practicalities he formerly relied upon.

Around 57:00 in the interview is where he discusses it

.
 
That is quite interesting hearing the way he talked backed then compared to the last year or so. The bit about test pilots near the end is especially enlightening.
 
Amazing this guy has given 10 years of his life and has absolutely nothing to show for it.
 
Sierra_Hotel said:
I wouldn't call having a flying prototype "nothing to show for it," but it's definitely a stretch from his original goal.
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I keep thinking some of his original goals were good ideas and could be a popular aircraft.

Things like a very roomy cockpit ..... pusher prop gives great forward visibility ..... aim for less than 300 hp from the diesel engine with a focus on dependability , low cost , and high economy.

Providing the Raptor/Canard design is stable in flight it certainly is one of the better looking aircraft around.
 
OMG. Imagine the trouble he could’ve gotten into with a turboprop.

Sierra_Hotel said:
I wouldn't call having a flying prototype "nothing to show for it," but it's definitely a stretch from his original goal.
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Maybe “nothing” is an exaggeration, but “a lot less than a Velocity he could’ve built for a fraction of the cost and already have flown coast to coast” is pretty accurate.
 
Wow... absolutely zero design experience and very little actual flight experience and he's going to "fix" everything wrong with the Velocity. Bigger, faster and pressurized using less fuel.

I wonder why they stopped responding to his emails?
 
donjohnston said:
Wow... absolutely zero design experience and very little actual flight experience and he's going to "fix" everything wrong with the Velocity. Bigger, faster and pressurized using less fuel.

I wonder why they stopped responding to his emails?
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Call it Digital Arrogance. My typing and clicking can solve all of the ills caused by the analog Neanderthals before me.
 
Yep, and pushing his record duration also
 
What do you suppose is up with the regular oscillations in speed?

Screen Shot 2021-05-07 at 9.39.53 AM.png

Giving the engine a rest every 5 minutes?
 
Duh, yes, it matches his turns.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
Isn't he flying in circles? Speed change with the ground speed from upper winds pushing or pulling. No?
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I don't get what he is accomplishing on these repeated figure 8 test flights, other than building time. He has done nothing to expand the aircrafts flight envelope, as a matter of fact he stays in the dead center of it. This is not a flight test program.
 
OneCharlieTango said:
OMG. Imagine the trouble he could’ve gotten into with a turboprop.


Maybe “nothing” is an exaggeration, but “a lot less than a Velocity he could’ve built for a fraction of the cost and already have flown coast to coast” is pretty accurate.
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Possibly less trouble from the standpoint of haphazard engine/turbo modifications and poorly-though-out cooling systems. The turbine and gearbox would have been pretty much self-contained. However, that doesn't mean that the rest of the Raptor wouldn't have come from together when he had turbine-power pushing him past Vne (especially since he doesn't know what Vne is for the Raptor).
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
Isn't he flying in circles? Speed change with the ground speed from upper winds pushing or pulling. No?
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Makes sense, but those are some winds. Groundspeed is varying between roughly 120 mph to 170 mph.
upload_2021-5-7_8-39-20.png
Ron Wanttaja
 
midwestpa24 said:
I don't get what he is accomplishing on these repeated figure 8 test flights, other than building time. He has done nothing to expand the aircrafts flight envelope, as a matter of fact he stays in the dead center of it. This is not a flight test program.
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Isn't he just "flying off" those 40 hours so they can launch full scale production in California? Or something like that?
 
Tantalum said:
Isn't he just "flying off" those 40 hours so they can launch full scale production in California? Or something like that?
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Probably is, but still makes no sense. Nothing has been gained or learned in that 40 hours, other than where the weak links in his design are. It would be like a CFI flying with a student doing nothing but circles for 40 hours, then declaring they are ready for their Private checkride.
 
wow... that's a bit of an achievement eh?!

Maybe putting the camera down and going back to "his roots" is paying off?
 
6,000 feet and looks to average around 130 kts. Far cry from the original performance numbers.
 
It only took an hour to climb to 6k. Not bad!


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Hey, 100 fpm climb rate is about on par with most escalators at the local mall.. I believe those are around 1.5 ft per second? That roughly ties out (if my distracted mental math is right)
 
The climb rate is awful. It certainly doesn't need a passenger! Your run-of-the-mill Skyhawk beats this thing. (1) Is it that bad, or is he slowing the climb to keep it cool?

All the speed of a Cutlass! (2)

At the end, why is he in such a hurry to get out of the sky?

(1) not meant as a slight to a Skyhawk in any way. Simply using it as an example since it's one of the most popular airframes out there.
(2) not meant as a slight to a Cutlass in any way. Simply using it as an example as it's the RG relative of (1).
 
Tantalum said:
Hey, 100 fpm climb rate is about on par with most escalators at the local mall.. I believe those are around 1.5 ft per second? That roughly ties out (if my distracted mental math is right)
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If only he had an engine that wasn't from one of those evil manufactures of antiquated, inferior aircraft engines.

LMAO
 
donjohnston said:
If only he had an engine that wasn't from one of those evil manufactures of antiquated, inferior aircraft engines.

LMAO
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Well, truth be told, his probably starts a lot easier and runs smoother than the Lycosaurus. No mixture control to mess with, either. Unfortunately, he just chose a poor example to fit his mission and an even worse method of installing it to be operational.
 
I saw a nice IO-550 for sale on TaP on Instagram the other day with around 1k hours. Asking prices was like $22k. Almost tagged Raptor.
 
donjohnston said:
If only he had an engine that wasn't from one of those evil manufactures of antiquated, inferior aircraft engines.

LMAO
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Peter will forever be the bane of my existence on the whole "our engines suck" platform because of his franken-turbo-audi abomination. Diamond makes it work with Mercedes engines. Granted, I assume they have more cash and slightly more brain power at Austro / Diamond!!
 
Tantalum said:
Peter will forever be the bane of my existence on the whole "our engines suck" platform because of his franken-turbo-audi abomination. Diamond makes it work with Mercedes engines. Granted, I assume they have more cash and slightly more brain power at Austro / Diamond!!
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I’ll still be your friend. At least as long as I get your support for the Rotax conversion for the C150.
 
Tantalum said:
Peter will forever be the bane of my existence on the whole "our engines suck" platform because of his franken-turbo-audi abomination. Diamond makes it work with Mercedes engines. Granted, I assume they have more cash and slightly more brain power at Austro / Diamond!!
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And the Diamond is a very nice airplane to fly with that power plant! Set the power percentage and it does the rest. 140KIAS at ~6 gallons/hour (in an admittedly slick airframe). But it requires a $20,000 “service” every 600 hours.:eek:
 
Have a source for it being $20k? I found a list of the maintenance interval items and only see high pressure fuel pump and fuel injectors at 600 hours. I'd be more worried about the cost at 1800 hours for the overhaul.
 
Sierra_Hotel said:
Have a source for it being $20k? I found a list of the maintenance interval items and only see high pressure fuel pump and fuel injectors at 600 hours. I'd be more worried about the cost at 1800 hours for the overhaul.
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Word of mouth from the fight instructor who I did my instrument intensive in that aircraft with. The school maintains a fleet of them. To be fair, he said it was for the engines in the DA-62 so not exactly the same engine. Maybe the little one is not subject to it...
 
Fair enough. I've always been curious what the actual ownership costs of those engines is.
 
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