These guys are legit. They make it sound as if it’s a simple thing. Even though they have a cnc, getting things to fit is hard, even on flat surfaces. It’s not even simple to make a decent bag and get the resin to go where you want in an infusion. It’s very expensive to learn as your destroying so much material. Respect. Excellent work from these men. Dudes like this built the world.

Wow guys, you are so young for so much knowledge. I think I'm the same age as you two, I completely restored a car by myself, tearing the car down to bare shell, paint it, rebuilt the engine, made custom parts, refurbished the suspension, made partly the wiring myself, and all this knowledge took at least 4-5 years. You are on a whole another level. Making carbon fiber parts, cnc machining, custom harness with circular connectors, an engine bay with such beautiful parts and a GODDAMN PLANE. Did you work on cars before or built them? Huge respect to you guys, amazing knowledge

A 750 pound empty weight is insanely light. You guys are doing an absolutely amazing job. I built an RV-6A so I can really appreciate what you are doing here.

The thought processes and attention to detail you guys are going to is why you’ll be extremely successful. It’s been great to be able to watch the design come together.

I can’t and won’t try to speak for anyone else but I’m ready to risk my life on these hypotheses! Brilliant! Cheers mates!!

I always amazed with the amount of materials spent on transverse frames for non pressurised fuselages instead of care about "bridge" bending loads.

I just find it really cool that you guys are working together as a family. my sister and I are super close and I always think its sad when people go totally separate ways when they reach adulthood

So awesome. Before he passed away, I helped my grandfather with an experimental plane design he was working. Same vacuum tooling. We were doing fiberglass foam core sandwiches for curved top and leading edge components. Great work!

Can't wait to see Dark Arrow fly. Looks very slick.

I will never afford one but wishing you guys all the luck and success in this endeavor!

You guys are amazing! I have never had a brother, but a family like yours would have been great. You'll conquer the world. Thank you.

3 brilliant minds! The Brain Brother's! Awesome plane gentlemen! Blessings and success to you all!

One great little tools are laptop 12V cooling fans ,they are cheap ,very light ,reliable and efficient ,when I built my sleeper Volvo carbon fiber dashboard ,I used them at key spots to keep my fuse boxes ,wiring ,gauges ,battery packs always ventilated and to extract hot air in tight closed spaces ,and it fights humidity too in critical places.

Love the craftsmanship on this plane, very clean! Can’t wait to see you guys at some airshows!! Keep up the videos and hard work.

am i the only one who want to see these guys work with mike patey to see how crazy this build can get . great job guys im here for it all

Guys, your is not an aircraft shop, it is a neurosurgery operating room, all is always perfect, clean, clear, a real joy of the mind, all looks the best possible solution, deeply considered, thought, analyzed. Dark Aero is essentially a mental status of coherence and beauty.

"My hobby is playing video games. What's yours?" "Oh normal boring stuff, I build airplanes"

I'm a design engineer (electronics). I think you have dropped the ball with regard to the electrolytic on the front of the Lithium pack housing. As a rule of thumb a 20C rise in temperature reduces electrolytic life by a factor of 10. That could be partially mitigated by moving it towards the plenum. Another alternative is using a PCB loaded with ceramic capacitors but that will make you go cross eyed cost wise and then there is the vibration issue (they tend to crack and short out). My suggestion though is a small bank of say 20 lower value caps with radial leads on a PCB and secured with ty-wraps of the highest temp rating vs life rating you can get and and cooling them in the same housing as the lithium cells. The other point is that with lithium's there is a dendrite issue. This too can be mitigated to a point. Cooling is a damn good start. However there are military studies that demonstrate that to maximise life you need to do two things. Charge and discharge currents lower than maximum rated. The lower the current compared to maximum rated the longer they last. 2 reduce Vmax and increase Vmin on the pack. I have got a pack cycling three times a day and it's still not down to 90% capacity after 3 years by increasing Vmin to 2.8V Vmax to 4.0V and 30% of rated currents. www.powerelectronics.com/markets/mobile/article/21859861/proper-care-extends-liion-battery-life is a commerical investigation but will give you enough info to work with. Reply if you want more info. Just for the record I have been a senior design engineer for a military subcontractor, a while after that worked for Crane Aerospace, and my specialty is safety critical/high reliability systems. I also design some of the weirder instrumentation for radio telescopes (believe it or not the two fields overlap a lot).

The battery cooling duct might be a problem after shutdown. I've had similar issues with my RV8 when testing battery box temps for my new lithium battery, and just barely caught the temp rise after sitting in the cockpit with the master on while making a few notes. The cooling plenum is raised above the inlet, so the hotter air from the cylinders will naturally want to rise and be trapped up top in that space, potentially allowing hot air to migrate through the SCAT tubing into the battery box. Only thing I can think of to remedy that if it becomes a problem is to route the tubing straight to the inlet away from the plenum above the cylinders, or build the tubing from sheetmetal integral to the plenum wall itself with an opening close to the inlet. Probably not a great idea to vent it directly to the cowling, and adding a NACA duct or similar to the cowling just complicates things with additional weight/drag/cowling removal. I elected to bond carbon fiber tubing alongside the plenum (which was also CF) and simply trimmed an inlet for it near the cowling inlet after molding a simple duct to connect fresh air with the battery, which solved the problem. The battery stays a few degrees above ambient even during summer temps in TX.

Thank you for the update. You workmanship quality is just amazing and I wish you all the best.

Your knowledge of composite manufacturing methods and innovation in the design of this airframe are truly impressive. Keep up the great work!

Like an apple iPhone presentation with different team members covering their areas of work. High quality presentation!

Coolest project ever! What a great team and workspace.

I am but a High Schooler, and I have wanted to fly for a long time. This is something that has interested me a lot, I wouldn't be shocked if I were flying one of these in the next few years. Great work!

unofficially.....the quality of craftsmanship is reflected in the cleanliness of the workspace.

From a former UW-Madison ME student, best wishes and good luck!

What has always impressed, and troubled me, about landing gear doors is the tremendous aerodynamic loads they must endure, over many take-off and landing cycles. You never open your car doors at 200mph, or just remember to shut them when you are going 150mph. But that is normal for an aircraft. Remember those old Volkswager TV commercials from the 1970's - no you don't you are too young. You do remember TV at least? Well, some well-paid-presenter would walk around the Beetle opening and closing doors with a satisfying 'thunk!' As it turns out, the actual sounds of the actual VW Beetle's doors opening and closing were replaced with previously recorded sounds of a Rolls Royce's doors being opened and closed. Those itty little landing gear doors yours actually sound pretty solid.

I am of a firm belief that startups, original innovations and or any ideas in-between SHOULD be protected from acquisition, aggressive shareholders/parent companies or buyouts. In my view, this is good start against monopoly of ideas. Much respect for you guys. I hope you stay independent going forward. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 #KeepSafeStaySafe.

I just realized that every time you post a video, it seems like I write critiques or questions about specific items. Most of the time your answer is "yes, we thought of that, and here's how we're dealing with it." To be sure, I am not criticizing the build or the project, I think it is a fabulous project and I am in awe of the level of quality engineering being applied. I do tend to look for failure points in things, so if I do see something, I tend to say something. :)

Keep in mind that charging a Li-Ion battery at below freezing can damage the battery. At the altitudes this aircraft will fly, you could easily be introducing subzero air to the battery via that cooling duct. Cold temperatures also severely limit the output current/capacity capability of Li-Ion batteries in the case of stator/regulator failure.

Hey guys it's looks as it's coming rite along . Great work Looks awsum .👌👌👌👌

Seeing the battery forced air ventilation I wonder how a battery cold at altitude would react to condensing moisture when descending through clouds and precipitation.

You guys are crushing the game and breathing new life into the experimental arena!! Keep it up! 💪🏾💪🏾

Watch out Mike Patey! (any patey fans here?) Nice work boys!

That fuselage looks sick.

Very impressive. Nice to see someone actually building something.

I'm a backcountry guy, but your new plane makes me want to go fast. Love your work

Superb work as usual. River, it looks like your still using standard nylon lock ties, have you considered using GripLockTies on the wiring harness? These could all but eliminate the long term problem of wire insulation chafing and wear through as a points of failure. Tracking down that insidious intermittent ground hum on comms or the tripped circuit breaker that only seems to happen when your midway through your flight is always a pain but a complete failure in one of the critical electronic signal, comms or electrical control systems could be real bad. Gone are the days when it’s a good day if you can walk away from a gear up landing, because the economics of Experimental Aircraft operations and its insurance implications often mean that you end up also walking away from your flying career as well. Much worse would be electrical arc causing smoke in the cabin or an engine fire could if it were to result in the loss of the aircraft and just catastrophic if were to result the loss of pilot and passenger. As engineers we can never escape these two words, ‘Risk Mitigation.’

It doesn't mean much but I'm impressed... with nearly 30 years in (CAD/CAM) aerospace composite part manufacturing (and as a private pilot - 45 yrs... which also never seemed to mean much to anyone other than me) it's interesting to see what you're doing. There are times that I think I'd like to have been involved with projects like this. Building an airplane is not a simple project. Thanks for sharing, stay safe, enjoy

Well done , I am totally fascinated by your amazing skills. I wish you the very best for your futures.

I'm studying to be an A&P, I love this. It really helps visualize what we're learning.

The workshop is so tidy and the build is so neat. This is awesome!

guys you do fantastic work!

Looks very fast, even without wings! congrats a total beauty, can´t wait to see in flight!

5:50, a small tip on improvement is to make the airflow duct - feed the bottom of the battery can and vent the outflow of that air on the top side of the battery can.

Great American engineers at work !!!

Popped up on my feed out of the blue. Cool project boys. I’ll pay this ticket and see this thing through.

FANTASTIC WORK

good to see that the hinges mount to the support structure

You guys are great - don't you ever give up! Blessings!

glad to see those sweet carbon fiber ailerons , sick

Looks like an evolution of the Glassair.

Gorgeous Plane gents’. I’m currently building an RV-12is.I think when I’m ready for a speed and distance upgrade I’ll be calling you boys up for a test flight. Keep up the good work!

Now that I have seen the aircraft being handled by you guys it look so small. I am sure it will be fun fly once it is complete. It looks amazingly lite.

Always enjoy seeing your progress.

On the deHavilland Mosquito the gear door mechanism was astonishingly crude: tube "skids" on the strut pushed open the doors at the front, and they were closed by coil springs at the back. Caused no problem at 350 mph. I do not think they even had a locking mechanism. Of course one would build that of carbon today. As closing spring I could imagine a LENGTHwise flat strip that is twisted 90 degrees when opening.

Fantastic project. Thanks for taking the time to share this with the world. 🇨🇦

Guys, it`s so cool stuff you make. Great job!

Incredible! I just started watching you guys and let me say, I am impressed! There is obviously a lot of work and dedication that has gone into this! Keep up the great work boys!

I love the way to work, so i finde your Projekt is very clear und beautyful. Compliments from a German Master of Mechanik. Go the way forfard. This Airplan Is the best i've seen since the ultalight Faszination from Germany

Amazing work. Glad I stumbled across your feed. I will continue watching as your aircraft appears to be pretty awesome, even if it isn't flying - yet.

Amazing,work shop,aircraft and knowledge you guys have.Well done it will be great.

You could make the door be rotated into the hole and out of it kind of like a conveyor belt that goes one way and back the other but using a small hydrolic puller to get the door to move underneath. That way you only have to make one piece instead of three.

Beautiful machine.

Awesome, always in hopes to see the next videos. Keep the content coming!

Amazing project and talent, I have good feeling this going to be a winner!

If the availability increases and the cost of graphene flakes come down low enough you might consider adding them to your resins for greater strength. I love this craft!

Awesome brothers! Wish you all the veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery best!

Nice knife!

Looks like the front hinge on the long doors needs to be moved forward for higher rigidity. The unsupported section in front of the hinge will be susceptible to the wind.

You guys should have someone in the X-Plane community build a Simulator model so we can fly it in X-Plane. This can be another revenue source to help fund the project.

Can't wait to see complete aircraft ❤❤❤

Just found your channel (what took so long, algorithm?). I love what you guys are doing and that you’re sharing it. Aerospace, mechanical and electrical engineers. It’s like you guys went to college with an aircraft company in mind. Best of luck to you and your company!

CNC MDF for CFRP moulds? That’s what I’ve always thought would be a quick method for composite prototyping. Don’t know how I’ve missed this channel until now, great quality project here.

Ever been so impressed that you subscribe to a channel after watching just 2 videos? Yup thats me!

damn guys, you rocks. building a carbon aircraft on your own...

Sweet lines on that bad boy

You guys are really doing some beautiful work.

I like how it’s so light 2 people can move it

Thank you for making such professional quality videos and explaining everything as you do so. recently found your Chanel and have subscribed and watched lots of your content. Keep it up.

Great job mate 🤞🤞🤞

Awesome aircraft.

This honestly has to be right up there with the syberjet SJ30. The 787 got nothing on this plane in terms of proper effort and precision of build.

Love your progress! Keep on keepin' on!

I will be definitely one of your first customers. I really love this project and your way of thinking . I juste received your email , with the Carlos Z design of the cockpit (avionics) I have some suggestions below: - add AOA ( Angle Of Attack) just above the PFD One of the mnemonic I always remember when I fly IFR is “TUPS” (Time Undercarriage Power and Switches) So if you - add a clock above the PFD between AOA and undercarriage switch - (and I know, flaps switches are most of the time near the power throttle) but I think flaps switch should be near undercarriage switch as well. So it would be the perfect UX for an IFR flight especially for the approach phase of the flight . Gear up -> flaps up Gear down -> flaps down

Heat transfer to your battery box could be greatly reduced if you added aerogel sheets to the inside of the box. Aerogel has an R-8 per centimeter insulation capability, so even a centimeter thick aerogel layer would provide significant reduction in heat soak into the battery box from the hot air coming off the cylinder heads. Aerogel has been described as "solid smoke" with a density of just 0.02 grams per cubic centimeter, so it will add almost now weight. And being made almost entirely of silica, it is non-flammable. You might be able to just use adhesive to hold the aerogel panels to the inner surface since it will not be exposed. But if abrasion protection is needed an aluminum foil could be adhered to the aerogel to cover the inner surface prior to installation with an aluminum tape sealing the corners. And in the event of a battery fire, the aerogel nonflammability and insulation would help to contain the heat and slow its spread to other parts of the aircraft. In fact you could adhere nomex fabric to the inside surface of the aerogel to provide even more containment of a battery fire. And I don't know what you have planned to insulate the firewall, but aerogel panels could be an extremely effective and very light solution to reducing heat transfer to the pilots feet! Sandwiching the aerogel with nomex here as well would give some added protection of the pilot in the event of an engine fire. Oh, and the plane looks AWESOME!

Impressive progress! Well done.

Wow! Inspiring. Good luck you guys

Great job!!! Thanks for sharing your progress.

It is great! Very nice worrk!

Keep the videos coming guys! Always a joy to watch.

I would love to see someone make a modern carbon fiber P-51D , this plane reminds me of one .

This plane has all my dream components. Looking forward to seeing you at Oshkosh!

Another landing gear door possibility would’ve been a scissor door type configuration.... identical to the F-106 Weapons Bay doors. Single actuator to reduce weight and moving components

The plenum looks like an efficient air control to cool the engine. Even airflow over the cylinders is a challenge. What concerned me was access to the spark plugs. It appears the lower plugs may be accessible but the uppers appear to be buried inside the plenum. If that is the case, do what you can to make the plenum easy to remove. Four snap screws or something quick. It is not uncommon to have to change a plug in in the field (away from a hangar and tools). Here is a request/suggestion. Make it easy to to de cowl for access without having to to find a place to put the fragile cowls while working on the aircraft. If the two sides folded up and over center onto the opposite side, on a central hinge, and had a retaining hook or strap, it would make it safe and easy to access one side of the engine. Again, changing plugs, inspecting for oil leaks, loose fittings. A much more thorough preflight could be conducted with a simple to open cowl. Looks like a great aircraft. Hit me up when you are ready to start selling them.

Looks great.

This is kind of like discovering Project binky. Haha quess I will be spending this day by watching whole channel trough

you know, This in 1/5th scale would make a really awesome RC aircraft. With the right components could be an awesome drone too.

Thanks for the update!

Amazing, keep up the excellent work 👍🏻