Read "World's Worst Aircraft" for a great study of bad and amateur aircraft design. This is not the first egg that engineers have laid. The Osprey works on a much more basic principle and isn't even approaching acceptable. Those engines must overheat instantly.

Congress isn't capable of deciding whether an aircraft design is acceptable - but neither is the news media. The news media has destroyed a number of important military research projects just to get readers. So why should I believe you now?

Congress isn't capable of deciding whether an aircraft design is acceptable - but neither is the news media. The news media has destroyed a number of important military research projects just to get readers. So why should I believe you now?

Posted by: John Kantor

What a tool. The news media doesn't destroy military research. It exposes the massive fraud and waste that is 'built in' to the research process. The US taxpayers are wasting their hard earned money on this contraption.

Thank you Brian Ross for bringing this to light. How can I help the cause? I'd like to get both sides of the story, and 'takeoff' from there (unlike the Hovercraft it appears).

Well, lessee:

"...military analysts have consistently rejected the craft since 1986 as technically flawed."

"...did not stop Congress from continuing to pour money into the program, under prodding from San Diego-area congressmen, including Duncan Hunter"

"Hunter has received at least $36,000 from DuPont..."

"Hunter for President bumper stickers can be seen on cars parked in the DuPont Aerospace parking lot..."

"Hunter also denies the campaign contributions have any connection with his continued support of the aircraft."

Hm. Politics as usual. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along...

Of course politics chooses military weapons. It has been that way ever since the first GW got sent out on a shoestring at Valley Forge!

If you want a hoot ask the question, "Why are there O rings in the shuttle solid rocket motors? The external tank doesn't have them"

How does the Navy expert determine the DP2 can't fly when the company is apparently required to keep it tethered to the ground? To my mind, $63 million over 2 decades is vastly cheaper that what has been spent on certain pet projects of the Pentagon which crash repeatedly and kill people. If there is a short take off and landing plane that can work it will save lives. Why not allow a test pilot to actually test the plane rather than indulging in sound bites? This was a real "when did you stop beating your wife?" story. Why not research the technology and do a story on that rather than on who donates what? Just asking.

Is Cox a Rep.or Dem.? They make a point to say that Hunter is a Rep.

How can it fly if it's tied to the ground?

the story did not bother to mention this project was cancelled last year and effectively shut the company down, almost all employees were laid off, it was tried, it kinda worked, it ended. There is more to this story than was told, IE lies by omission

If you want to know why ths piece of c*^p is still alive, read the book "Wild Blue Yonder: the Story of the B-1 Bomber" ... it will show you the "MO" for a dozen OTHER usless 'systems' and/or 'weapons'

A 'msut read' book.

Contact my 2 Senators, Kay Hutchison and John Cornyn and my Rep, Kenny Marchant of Texas. Ask what they think.
I'd say that someone or someones in Congress have stock in the Dupont Company. Maybe even President Bush.

Dave wrote: If you want a hoot ask the question, "Why are there O rings in the shuttle solid rocket motors? The external tank doesn't have them" --- SOLID rocket motors and external TANK. The tank holds liquid fuel for the Shuttle's main engines. The solid rocket motors are rocket motors with internal solid fuel. Two totally different things. It's like comparing a bottle rocket to the gas tank on a car. Bottle rockets don't have seals, but gas tanks do.

Google the "Bell X-14" VTOL aircraft and compare descriptions and photos. Also, google Dupont and DuPont Areospace. The DP-2 is not on either website. I wonder why?

Is it time to remove some elected representatives mid-term?

As a native ex San Diegan, let me take this opportunity to bash the Republicans over this Duncan Hunter pet project. After trying to get the military to take over the city of San Diego, which they succeeded in accomplishing, now the Republican cognocenti believe they want to run Hunter up the flagpole?
Let me tell you here folks, you dont want anyone from the San Diego Republican party running ANYTHING! They have turned the city from a fine place, into America's Worst City.
As far as aircraft and General Dynamics, congress should leave experimental aircraft up to Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites. I know, I worked for both aerospace companies. Gen Dynamics was a war machine for the oil industry, and based their contracting on what was best for the military industrial complex, and Scaled Composites built one after another experimental aircraft which proved themselves airworthy, sometimes before they ever left the Mojave hangar!
The Congress of the United States is guilty of the worst debacle in the history of the world in allowing the military to infiltrate every dark corner of contracting. No citizenship in the history of the planet has wasted as much money as the United States Armed Forces. If not for them, we might actually have a country worth defending.
And before you start calling me a traitor, let me clarify. This Americans bloodlines go back 150 years before the Stars and Stripes were ever sewn into existance. So take it and run that up your flagpole.

Another case for completely eliminating earmarks! Unfortunately, ABC has chosen to focus on the political nature of the story (Rep vs Dem) instead of the irresponsible use of our tax dollars. The fact is EVERY Congressional district is riddled with "pet projects" that are just as wasteful as this and funded through the same mechanism. As long as Congress is in charge of policing Congress and people care more about voting for American Idol than their leaders then the corruption will continue.

Has anyone tried to put wheels on the dang aircraft, and may be try and use it as an amusement park ride?? Now that is an idea worthy of congressional funding!!

"If you want a hoot ask the question, 'Why are there O rings in the shuttle solid rocket motors? The external tank doesn't have them'"

The original solid rocket motor design that won the original contract was NOT segmented and did not have o-rings. The boosters would be made near enough to the launch centers to not need to fit on rail cars (yes, in that day both Canaveral & Vandenberg were going to launch shuttles). But the Senator from the Great State of Utah that was in charge of a key committee did not like the fact that Hercules, based in Utah, did not win the contract. So he forced the contract to require that the solid boosters be segmented under the guise that they had to be transported on railroad cars (from Utah). The Parker O-Ring company would not approve that the Hercules design was safe. As a matter of fact, they put in writing that the design violated accepted design principles for using o-rings. That document came to light during the Challenger investigation.

But once again, politics championed Science & Engineering.

By the way. The Dupont design can be fully simulated by any modern aeronautics student. It’s flaws are not a matter of debate.

And for the guy with the tether question, you ALWAYS test new hovering aircraft with a tether. If it can’t hover a few feet off the ground safely and in a stable manner, it can’t take off & land safely. Any pile of junk can fly if it is already at 10,000 feet. For safety, you do the very first test tethered. If you can't do that, its junk.

Hi all,
If the French Company Renault failed to develop their electric car since 1903, 21 years of development by DuPont for the DP2 does not sound that bad.

And what's 63 million compared to what they spent at NASA? In the end, if the DP2 ever gets off the ground and moves forward, will it help in any way to eliminate poverty and homelessness? We ought to prepare for peace, not war.

I don't fault DuPont for taking $63 million in contracts from the government, I fault 20+ years of inbred "leadership" for enabling this sort of behavior. Earmarks should be eliminated to rid our system of this "good ole boy" nonsense.

Instead, each side is simply attempting to pin responsibility/accountability on the other side of the isle for the press coverage. We've been through Democrat and Republican Administrations and Congresses, so neither side can cast the full blame. All enabled this stuff to continue.

It's a pity that it always boils down to partisan nonsense. I Wonder if term limits in Congress woll seem like crooks to me.

Al