Sadly the field of test flying is hazardous, especially in an airframe of largely unknown aerodynamic qualities and with completely unproven engines.
I say unproven because motorcycle engines though long lasting on two wheels live in a totally alien operating environment in an aeroplane. Especially the long-term operation at constant revs. I don't know how the power band was configured on the engines in question but the bike sees max Tq at 7,000 and max power at 10,000. The bike goes there momentarily but never sits there for more than a second or three at a time, and certainly never for minutes, or with testing cumulatively many tens of minutes on end. Who knows what resonances are set up that become destructive over such a timescale. I bet Suzuki never deeply explored that sort of regime as they'd never go anywhere near it in a bike.
I am also a little unsure of the wisdom of strapping draggy gopros all over the airframe and especially at the wingtips where in an experimental type with unknown stall characteristics you'd think maintenance of clean airflow paramount. That extra drag would be thoroughly unwelcome if an engine failed.
What a terrible shame, a real vision brought to life and so, so nearly made it. Well done Scotty, a brave, visionary man.
Last edited by Wageslave; 14th Sep 2016 at 11:47.