Raptor Aircraft

Video is up. Purpose of latest flight: Dial in aileron rigging and CG to improve roll stability. He would have flown longer, but the oil temperature reached 240. And I'm glad I took the "could go either way" position about his "flying off the 40 hours" plan, so I don't have to eat my words.

At 6:35 in today's video, he says this:
I was looking at the temperatures again. Still not 100% happy and I've got a couple ideas I'm thinking about but I really need to take it up to 4,000 feet and see what it does up there with respect to the temperatures, because if all my cooling problems go away when I'm up at 4,000 feet then I don't really need to make any big adjustments at this point. The goal is to get the aircraft near (?) 40 hours flying as safely as I can and then move it over to the West Coast and then we can start making some changes, but the idea is to get it over there so we can get on with the production plan.
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because if all my cooling problems go away when I'm up at 4,000 feet then I don't really need to make any big adjustments at this point.
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Sigh... just how many ways can this statement be wrong?
 
There’s always conservative nay sayers for aviation start ups, with good reason. But anyone that is trying something new I wish them good luck. GA is stuck in the 1950’s yet still too expensive for most. After reading this thread I looked at their YouTube of first flight and it’s encouraging. Hope they can pull it off.
 
iamtheari said:
Video is up. Purpose of latest flight: Dial in aileron rigging and CG to improve roll stability. He would have flown longer, but the oil temperature reached 240. And I'm glad I took the "could go either way" position about his "flying off the 40 hours" plan, so I don't have to eat my words.

At 6:35 in today's video, he says this:
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I skimmed his statement the first time. I know for most people his comment about "production plan" would really be a redesign plan at this point, but I have no doubt it's not for him and he meant exactly what he said.
 
231TC said:
Actual Peter quote from today's video: "Nothing flew off the aircraft like last time, so all good."
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I stopped watching them so I’ll have to take your word for it. I shouldn’t be shocked but I am.
 
DaleB said:
Sigh... just how many ways can this statement be wrong?
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No, No. Magic Cooling fairies live at 4,000'. They will fix everything.

Honestly, with a turbo-normalized engine, the cooling woes will get worse with altitude because the power (and heat) will be the same, but there will be less mass airflow to cool the contraption...
 
kyleb said:
No, No. Magic Cooling fairies live at 4,000'. They will fix everything.

Honestly, with a turbo-normalized engine, the cooling woes will get worse with altitude because the power (and heat) will be the same, but there will be less mass airflow to cool the contraption...
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Apparently, magic cooling fairies that live at 4000 feet will shoot cooling down to you on the tarmac as long as they know you can come up to thank them later. :eek:
 
kyleb said:
No, No. Magic Cooling fairies live at 4,000'. They will fix everything.
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Maybe, but unless you catch some of those little bi***es and drag them down lower, things could get ugly in a hurry.
 
Salty said:
Apparently, magic cooling fairies that live at 4000 feet will shoot cooling down to you on the tarmac as long as they know you can come up to thank them later. :eek:
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Required Panel Placard:

"When when flying through inversion layers, Monitor engine temp and adjust climb over 4000 ft."
 
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My favorite part was when he decided on a whim to just throw in full rudder deflection at 200 feet agl!
 
What we've discovered is that he's built an exceptionally stable aircraft, and he's just infact an exceptionally crappy pilot. :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
pilotrick said:
My favorite part was when he decided on a whim to just throw in full rudder deflection at 200 feet agl!
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Are the rudders in canard aircraft inherently less effective than in more traditional designs?

I ask because the “ball” on his display seemed to barely move. In the planes I fly full rudder deflection will nearly pin the ball to the side of the tube.

And needless to say, before I started horsing the controls around on a freshly designed Experimental, I think I’d like some altitude - a LOT of altitude- and a parachute. Is he wearing a parachute? Not that it would matter at 200’.
 
FastEddieB said:
Are the rudders in canard aircraft inherently less effective than in more traditional designs?

I ask because the “ball” on his display seemed to barely move. In the planes I fly full rudder deflection will nearly pin the ball to the side of the tube.

And needless to say, before I started horsing the controls around on a freshly designed Experimental, I think I’d like some altitude - a LOT of altitude- and a parachute. Is he wearing a parachute? Not that it would matter at 200’.
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wouldn't matter at 1000 either. I still don't get why you would test fly an aircraft that's supposed to have a parachute, without installing the parachute first.
 
pilotrick said:
My favorite part was when he decided on a whim to just throw in full rudder deflection at 200 feet agl!
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I don’t recall him saying he gave full ruder deflection, just that the rudder induces a lot of roll and is very hard to push.
 
1RTK1 said:
I don’t recall him saying he gave full ruder deflection, just that the rudder induces a lot of roll and is very hard to push.
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At 9:45 in, he says he went “to push full rudder left and right”. Later he just mentioned “a significant amount of rudder”. So hard to say exactly what he attempted/did.
 
I thought the velocity rudders only deflect toward the wing they're on. IE, the right rudder only swing right when you press right rudder. You can in theory get both rudders to deflect by pressing both pedals. Am I wrong? I thought this was something I read in a Velocity video. If the Raptor is a fat poorly engineered Velocity one may deduce its rudders are the same. I've also heard that Velocity rudders have only limited efficacy ??
 
Tantalum said:
I thought the velocity rudders only deflect toward the wing they're on. IE, the right rudder only swing right when you press right rudder. You can in theory get both rudders to deflect by pressing both pedals. Am I wrong? I thought this was something I read in a Velocity video. If the Raptor is a fat poorly engineered Velocity one may deduce its rudders are the same. I've also heard that Velocity rudders have only limited efficacy ??
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Correct. The rudders only deflect outward.

Only the older Velocity's can have both rudders operating at the same time. Just about all Velocity's made in the past 20 years have traditional rudder pedals on a pivot.

Rudders are very effective. But they are hard to push after the first 15-25%.
 
Tantalum said:
I thought the velocity rudders only deflect toward the wing they're on. IE, the right rudder only swing right when you press right rudder. You can in theory get both rudders to deflect by pressing both pedals. Am I wrong? I thought this was something I read in a Velocity video. If the Raptor is a fat poorly engineered Velocity one may deduce its rudders are the same. I've also heard that Velocity rudders have only limited efficacy ??
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If you see the Wasabi video about the Raptor, it appears that the rudder pedals are linked together and both pedals cannot be depressed at the same time.
 
He's flying circles at the moment. Looks like he got to 2500 feet. Impressive feat for that beast but didn't stay long up there. Descending now, so that's probably about its limit still.
 
231TC said:
He's flying circles at the moment. Looks like he got to 2500 feet. Impressive feat for that beast but didn't stay long up there. Descending now, so that's probably about its limit still.
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The 4,000 foot thermocline continues to be an elusive target
 
He does need to fix his pitot static system if he wants good data. It appears he has at a minimum a bad static location. His Indicated AS exceeds his GPS speed in all phases of flight and is probable reading 10 to 15 knots high while clean and there is significant indicated altitude climb while accelerating on the runway. Most test flights like this would use a calibrated boom off the nose to insure correct data.
 
In the latest video he says that he is following the EAA test pilot handbook. He said that it has a lot of sections on slow flight, flaps, and stalls. He has decided not to do those since "it's a canard aircraft, he already knows where it will stall, and the stall is going to be benign anyways." I sincerely believe he's going to try and fly this thing to California to meet with the production people. The NTSB should have no trouble whatsoever figuring out the cause of the inevitable accident. I wish that there was someone that could get through his head that he's in a very very dangerous place.
 
TFulwider said:
In the latest video he says that he is following the EAA test pilot handbook. He said that it has a lot of sections on slow flight, flaps, and stalls. He has decided not to do those since "it's a canard aircraft, he already knows where it will stall, and the stall is going to be benign anyways." I sincerely believe he's going to try and fly this thing to California to meet with the production people. The NTSB should have no trouble whatsoever figuring out the cause of the inevitable accident. I wish that there was someone that could get through his head that he's in a very very dangerous place.
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It’ll have to be before winters out.
 
TFulwider said:
He has decided not to do those since "it's a canard aircraft, he already knows where it will stall, and the stall is going to be benign anyways."

I sincerely believe he's going to try and fly this thing to California to meet with the production people. The NTSB should have no trouble whatsoever figuring out the cause of the inevitable accident. I wish that there was someone that could get through his head that he's in a very very dangerous place.
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He has absolutely no idea what speed it's going to stall at! And with it as overweight as it is, it will NOT be benign. I'm guessing that canard will stall at least 10kts faster than he thinks and the nose will drop like a rock. And since he has no freakin' idea how fast he's going nor has he ever flown a canard into a stall, he could be in for a very big surprise.

I believe you are right about him trying to fly to CA. Of course that won't happen anytime soon since (at this rate) he won't have flown off the 40 hours until 2030.
 
I’m supposing he’s scared of an unrecoverable spin when stall testing. I don’t blame him. But that’s no excuse for not getting the data.

Can he complete the 40 hrs without following some regimented test program that includes stalls?
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
Can he complete the 40 hrs without following some regimented test program that includes stalls?
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I would say not likely, at least if the rules are being followed.

But that said, I think I can count the number of experimental airplane logs I’ve seen that have what I would consider to be adequate phase 1 documentation on one hand. Most seem to fall significantly short of the real goal/purpose of the flight test period. This is likely due to the fact that many builders are not well versed in flight test or engineering.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
I’m supposing he’s scared of an unrecoverable spin when stall testing. I don’t blame him. But that’s no excuse for not getting the data.

Can he complete the 40 hrs without following some regimented test program that includes stalls?
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If he's even able to get that plane to spin, that'd be a first. I don't think I've ever heard of a canard aircraft getting into a spin.
 
The real danger of a canard stall is getting in a deep stall where the main wing is stalled also. I think 3 velocities have done this, two survived (one in water) and the Raytheon guy didn't make.it.
 
I think he said a few videos back that he's planning on trucking the plane out west, not flying it. Assuming he doesn't kill himself first. And of course he could very well change his mind and try to go for it after he builds more unwarranted confidence. Might be faster to truck it than landing for fuel every 100 (or less) miles.
 
231TC said:
I think he said a few videos back that he's planning on trucking the plane out west, not flying it. Assuming he doesn't kill himself first. And of course he could very well change his mind and try to go for it after he builds more unwarranted confidence. Might be faster to truck it than landing for fuel every 100 (or less) miles.
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You mean coolant :D
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
I’m supposing he’s scared of an unrecoverable spin when stall testing. I don’t blame him. But that’s no excuse for not getting the data.

Can he complete the 40 hrs without following some regimented test program that includes stalls?
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It would sure help if there was some sort of safety system installed for just such an emergency...oh that’s right, there was supposed to be...
 
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