ORIGINAL: rhklenke
ORIGINAL: rhallgarth
They could hire you to build and test new airframes but I'm afraid you might have burned that bridge. Now that I think of it that is an idea all jet manufacturers should think about. Have several of the kits built and flown independently by highly competent jet builders/pilots.
I wonder if any jet manufacturer would do that??
They do. Check the threads about Louis and Dom (jeteye and Major Woody) building and flying the Fei Bao jets. On the other hand, BVM builds and flys the crap out of his stuff himself...
Again, if you noticed, on the FEJ F-15 thread, I posted the problems I had and the fixes I used and indicated that I got the jet flying well. Time will tell now, how long it holds up, but I've said my piece on the F-15.
On the other hand, this is a *discussion* forum and when the FEJ reps. come on here once every two days and start a thread about "the next jet FEJ is doing" (aren't there some rules about "advertizing" in this thread?) they can expect some blow back. Nobody still has told me how they expect FEJ to be able to handle projects like the F-14 and Tornado, oh, and I see they are doing an F-35 too as well as the "Liberty." Its just not a reasonable approach to the business. They need to build their base of successfull, *working* designs before they take on these multiple projects - especially ones as complex as swing-wing jets. Oh, and BTW, in order to build an F-14 or Tornado, they are going to have to figure out what "carbon fiber" is and what's it used for.
I'll try a FEJ jet again when I start seeing their jets *fly* at flyins around the country. Last year, our F-15 was the only FEJ jet that attempted to fly at any events I attended and I spent *much* more time wrenching on it than flying it...
Bob
Do jeteye and Major Woody return the planes to Fei Bao after they are built or are they just given them cheap and get to keep them and fly them after they have built them??
These companies need to pull 2 arbitrary planes off the line during the first pass or if everyone is a one-of keep on top of it with builders/pilots like jeteye, Major Woody, and yourself and others. Having them built by independent builders and fliers. is better if everything is ok they can sell them or auction them for charity or whatever but a written construction notebook should be maintained with everything good, bad, or indifferent plus a detailed flight analysis. For doing this the builders should get paid.
That is the engineer in me but test, test, test, and then test some more. There are plenty of expert builders and fliers out here that are retired and would not mind a little extra cash from the hobby considering the current economy and market (gulp). Actually not a bad idea from someone to set up a little company like that.
I'll let you know what I think of my F-15E.