Raptor Aircraft

donjohnston said:
Considering that he's never flown that thing any higher than 6,000' (probably because he couldn't keep the temps down... in the winter), how do you suppose he's going to get to California without climbing higher than 6,000'?
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Follow I-10. Not enough air under the belly for my comfort in that dodgy beast, but he's got bigger balls than I do. I think (but not totally sure) that 6000 will clear terrain by 1000+ for that route.
 
231TC said:
Follow I-10. Not enough air under the belly for my comfort in that dodgy beast, but he's got bigger balls than I do. I think (but not totally sure) that 6000 will clear terrain by 1000+ for that route.
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Flying that pig at 1,000' AGL across west Texas in the summer? That doesn't take balls, it takes a lack of gray matter upstairs.

But it looks like he's heading for his airpark home in Arkansas.
 
Yep, but probably turning west and doing exactly that after a stop at Holley Mountain. Guy just gets more daring every day that he doesn't kill himself.
 
He’s off again. Heading too westerly for osh. Maybe stopping at home then osh, or CA as he indicated in his last video.
 
I'm sure having temporary quarters in Valdosta was probably hurting him financially. The Raptor has become a money pit for him now, with the investor money being returned.
 
The temp quarters in Valdosta couldn't be much worse than the one in north Georgia. He was up there for about 5 years.
 
He just landed at the Holley Mountain Airpark 2A2. I would guess that he still has his airpark home there, which he was trying to sell a few years ago:

 
Rgbeard said:
I guess it's simply because I'm not an East-coastie, but for me anything below 6,000 is simply a transition altitude.

Seeing somewhat lengthy trips at 3,500 is very foreign to me.
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I live in Florida and I feel the same way.
 
Rgbeard said:
I guess it's simply because I'm not an East-coastie, but for me anything below 6,000 is simply a transition altitude.

Seeing somewhat lengthy trips at 3,500 is very foreign to me.
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Flying the pattern 1,300 feet below what I consider ground level is an even foreigner feeling.
 
Hmmmm....... the Raptor apparently hasn't flown in the past 10 days. Peter last flew it from Valdosta (KVLD) to his airpark home in Arkansas (2A2), about 544nm. He did not do the flight nonstop, he went as far as Fayette, Alabama (M95) the first day, and the final leg the following day. There have been no ADS-B plots since then. He did make a road trip this week to Cherokee Airport (KCNI), where the Raptor was based before moving to Valdosta. He picked up numerous boxes of stuff he'd left in storage at Cherokee. Of course, he stopped any YouTube update videos about 2 months ago, only making a few comments about getting to Arkansas. Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if he finally realized that the airplane, in its present form, is so far short of his performance goals that it is no longer a viable product. I wonder if it will quietly disappear now that he has it home. Time will tell............
 
Rgbeard said:
I guess it's simply because I'm not an East-coastie, but for me anything below 6,000 is simply a transition altitude.

Seeing somewhat lengthy trips at 3,500 is very foreign to me.
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Salty said:
I live in Florida and I feel the same way.
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Y'all need to get out of your travelling planes and see the country to really enjoy aviation:

Also take note of the plane above that has far better performance in EVERY aspect than the Raptor.
 
Rod Schneider said:
Hmmmm....... the Raptor apparently hasn't flown in the past 10 days. Peter last flew it from Valdosta (KVLD) to his airpark home in Arkansas (2A2), about 544nm. He did not do the flight nonstop, he went as far as Fayette, Alabama (M95) the first day, and the final leg the following day. There have been no ADS-B plots since then.
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My guesses (any/all/none):
a) Fixing various things that broke or fell off the aircraft on his two relatively short cross countries
b) Relaxing while he waits to fly it to Oshkosh to rub it in the naysayers' faces
(I definitely didn't think that beast could make it this year. Even if it's junk he has almost proved me wrong about that)
c) Busted his operating limitations and got grounded by FSDO after being reported by a member of his anti-fan club

Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if he finally realized that the airplane, in its present form, is so far short of his performance goals that it is no longer a viable product. I wonder if it will quietly disappear now that he has it home. Time will tell............
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I've lost track of the number of times I've seen some version of this comment about the Raptor, going back at least a couple years. I don't think so. I mean, he's not a complete fool, he has even admitted it's not going to be what he promised, but accepting that it's not viable, I doubt it. No reason to believe he would now if he didn't at any of the other major points where it was obvious.
 
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So what needs to happen to get to the next step with this? Putting real numbers up somewhere? A second prototype with all the corrections from things learned from the first? A huge cash injection to get the ball rolling on the next phase? What’s the next phase consist of?


I realize the raptor will probably disappear never to be seen again.
 
Just when I start to think I’m overly critical. He’s at 500 AGL more than 5 miles from the airport, just flying around.

I’m back to thinking he needs an intervention. What can he possibly be thinking?

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Oh crap. I'm not liking the end of that flight track.
 
He must have landed at 2A2. I hope.
 
I wouldn't read too much into that. FlightAware seems to have pretty spotty data in that area.
 
Wow. Totally not worried about stalling on approach because the nose will just drop a little.

He's heading to Idaho from there pretty much any day now. "Since I'm done with my 40 hours".

His ADSB must be reporting 500 feet off because FlightAware showed him flying around at 500 feet AGL, but the video showed him at 1000.
 
Geez, 100kts over the fence and only 120kts in cruise at 4K ft MSL. I'd say it's like a 172, but I'd take a 172 any day if the week over the Raptor in its current form.
 
He was "cruising around with the power pulled back to about 65% for cooling". And indicating 110 knots. Holy performance miss, Batman!
 
Haha, he added a vent for cool air because he has to run the heat to cool the engine...in a plane he absolutely refused to remove the air conditioning from.
 
Am I the only one who noticed that he called CTAF as “experimental 2 tango delta” instead of “Raptor”?
 
231TC said:
Haha, he added a vent for cool air because he has to run the heat to cool the engine...in a plane he absolutely refused to remove the air conditioning from.
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In videos filmed of flights with the replacement engine, he taxis to the runway with the door open. Guess why. :D

He hasn't hooked up the A/C with that engine.
 
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