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Raptor - 300kts, 130k usd, 7gph jet-a1

Haven’t seen this around here so thought I would share:
http://www.raptor-aircraft.com/home.html

always learning
LO__, Austria

To quote their FAQ:

1. Do you have a flying aircraft yet?
We do not.

tmo
EPKP - Kraków, Poland

The Raptor is pure vapor plane. The guys behind it are trying to fund their efforts by soliciting deposits they claim are refundable. Look at their specs/price/performance/design and what they claim they are going to do – if any of it were possible a real manufacturer would have built it already.

Thanks @Snoopy for the heads up: I think this is a good business proposal for anyone knowing how to publish a neat website with color images… @Peter, do you know such a guy?
Refundable deposits are now being accepted. Deposits are $2000. We have over 250 deposits already and are already working on construction of the prototype.
The guy already made $500k

BTW after all the fuss Siemens made to Pipistrel to stop them using their engines, I hope the guy has a license from Audi to “copy-paste” their engine pics and specs to his site and claim he’ll use it.

LFLY, France

Not flying yet:


Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

1000 deposits ($ 2 M) and updates twice weekly on youtube. A very interesting watch, honestly.
But I am very scared that a non-pilot is designing this. He is reinventing the wheel on such things as engine, pressurization, de-icing.
I expect the adventure to stop after a few test flights, hopefully without killing anyone.
But it really is a remarkable source of information on many topics. Hat off!

LSGG, LFEY, Switzerland

Why non-pilot? Peter is a pilot.

Door design is strange for the prototype because pressure will move the door away from seals. Apparently something they will fix for production.

Mostly concerned with the engine, seems too risky.

Overall great that they are trying to move the needle!

Switzerland

Are you sure he’s a pilot? I think I heard him say he wasn’t. The way he spoke about avionics was definitely “non pilot” too.

But this is not to say he’s not a brilliant allrounder techie. I am impressed at the breadth of his skill set and his “just do it” attitude.
Ambition is nice, but not when you have lives at risk as would be the case here. A FL 250 capable experimental aircraft with so much innovation and so little external validation is a disaster waiting to happen.

LSGG, LFEY, Switzerland

Yeah I’m sure. Listened to a podcast and there he described how he got his PPL.

I agree about not putting lives at risk. Isn’t that the reason why they are building a prototype? Do thorough test flights, step by step, with proper risk management?

I hope much of the risk will be reduced by the time we can buy the kits.

Btw, as much as I like this project, I guess it will not be very practical in Europe due to its status as experimental. Because the mission of this plane is long distance cross country with lots of IFR.

Switzerland

Flyingfish wrote:

Ambition is nice, but not when you have lives at risk as would be the case here. A FL 250 capable experimental aircraft with so much innovation and so little external validation is a disaster waiting to happen.

I agree. “just do it” is not enough for something like this. And experimental in this case means they can or won’t certify it, which would be the way to go for such high performance airplanes. Personally I think it is a very bad idea to have amateurs build pressurized high performance airplanes without proper oversight and technical control, apart from that I have severe reservations about the engine, which certainly has never been tested above the normal heights a car will reach, so to be generous maybe to 10’000 ft? How can they even derive that it would work fine at FL250?

Head in the clouds is what I think. Apart, we have seen dozens of protoypes with fantasy figures which never made it to end consumer status. This is just another one where some folks tinker on a project with the money of people who are willing to finance a dream.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland
127 Posts
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