It did get airborne, but so would a Tupolev on 1 engine, given enough runway
He’s about 200HP short
Here’s the video from the builder:
It’s clearly got a number of problems, not including lack of power. He reckons that retracting the gear will solve all though.
The video is downright scary. I give Peter credit for surviving it and landing safely, Engine temps immediately shot up in the red while it was not making the expected HP.
So he had partial power, an engine emergency AND severe instability, and yet he landed without damage.
This deserves congratulations.
As to the engine, we now have proof of how far it is from being a finished project – as expected.
I do not know if the stability issue can be fixed easily, but I am pretty certain that the overweight issue cannot.
I think the best that can come out of this is a Velocity XXL, with an off the shelf aero engine, no pressurization and performance consistent with a scale-up of the Velocity’s – i.e.: slower…
Honestly he was not ready to fess up that he forgot to open the top cowl before taking off – it was in the minimum position – that would surely have helped with his cooling.
As for the instability – maybe its the landing gear but thats hardly a win – the aircraft needs to be stable in the approach – he could spend another year developing syncro gear doors that cover the wheel wells when the gear is down
I think the gear door thing is him looking for something relatively simple to fix / blame it on. Much like the thermals causing the instability. It takes an astonishing amount of runway to take off, then barely climbs at all under full power. Physics seems to be refuting his claimed engine power.
Still he managed to take off and land in one piece despite it looking as if it wanted to point in all of the directions. From his statement about not wanting to hear any negative comments that does seem to me that he doesn’t really want to face up to the issues.
He talks about crowdfunding a test pilot. Is it likely to find someone happy to take it up after seeing the videos?
Was the displayed RPM an engine figure, (gearbox) or a prop figure?
Surely there is a sweetspot for prop efficiency, I know nothing but that figure seemed a little high to me.
Anyone know more?
Surely an aerodynamics expert will be able to sort that oscillation? Adjustment to counterbalance etc?
I agree he handled it well.
I was crapping it just watching from the sofa!! Lol.
The Audi V6 reaches peak power at 3500 rpm so presumably engine rpm.
Much like North American did, he will find out that the radiator scoop needs a lot more offset than he has, to avoid turbulent air, especially in a low speed nose up attitude which will blank it out.
A lot of shimmy on that brand spanking new nosewheel assembly doesn’t bode well for the rest of the linkages…
in flight engine shutdown…
scary how many single points of failure in series this engine has.
if anything from a very long list fails, the engine is gone.
The exact opposite of what aircraft engines are about.
I hope this incident gives Peter a honorable way out of his homebrew biturbo illusion.
Get an IO550, ditch pressurization and go flying…
You are too kind. I call that an engine failure.
