Matronics Email Lists Forum Index Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists
 
 Get Email Distribution Too!Get Email Distribution Too!    FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Comments

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Matronics Email Lists Forum Index -> Lightning-List
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com
Guest





PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:45 pm    Post subject: Comments Reply with quote

Brian- Thanks for the detailed report.
Any speed mods that anyone can think of need to be
brought to your and Nick's attention. Everyone
building a Lightning can benefit and will be grateful
for any mods that can be made.
I gave Ryan Gross at Green Landings a book by Ken
Pacer called 'Speed with Economy'. It is available
online at www.speedwitheconomy.com.
Ken got drastic speed improvements on his Mustang.
A 200 mph cruise would make the Lightning incredible.
Also, I looked at the Dynamic WT9 website and was
unimpressed with the cruise speeds considering it has
retractable landing gear.
If I was reading the specs correctly, it looks like a
really slow airplane compared to the Lightning. How
is it possible that it is so slow considering it has
so much reduced drag with the retractable gear?
The removable wings seem like a neat thing but I don't
know if I want two pins holding my wings in place.
The parachute is a nice thing, but hope it is not in
the firewall forward right behind the engine like on
some planes. Does anyone agree that the WT9 doesn't
compare to the Lightning? They do look very similar.
Anyone know how easy it is to add autopilot to the
Lightning down the road after the build is complete?

Charles


--- Brian Whittingham <dashvii(at)hotmail.com> wrote:

Quote:

Whittingham" <dashvii(at)hotmail.com>

I'll repost this pilot report for those of you who
may have joined recently
or didn't catch it before. Those pilots who have
flown the Lightning have
reported very similar things as in here. Let me
once again say that
although I have worked with the Arion company from
time to time I do not
work for them. You won't find me on the payroll.
Right now I'm trying to
tune in a little more speed by doing some minor
airframe cleanup which I
hope to offer as a "speed kit" if the results are
favorable. I believe my
current work will yield about another 8mph. My
ultimate goal would be to
try to get the high altitude cruise speed up to
200mph, but I believe that
will take some more doing past the current mods that
I have planned. I am a
pilot who has on ocassion flown the time off of
experimental aircraft or
delivered them at the request of the owner/builders.
I have flown about 30
different types of aircraft at this point. I am 25
years old and have been
flying since I was 12. I don't, however, come from
an aviation family. In
fact none of my family are pilots except for me. My
current experiments
with the Lightning I believe was hatched from
sitting in the hangar and
talking with Buz and Nick about some airframe
cleanup. I got Pete and Nick
to give me authorization to fly the prototype on
these flights. I am also
using this as my topic for a thesis and while I hope
for favorable results,
I must at all costs remain objective. Partly these
experiments are to help
me understand the relationships of different drag
reduction techniques on
this aircraft, and partly to see what kind of
enhancements in terms of
performance, but mainly in terms of efficiency that
it can achieve. I tell
you all this to show that I am trying to be
objective but also that I am for
lack of a better term, a "Lightning Enthusiast." No
reason other than I've
flown it and am seriously impressed by the handling,
performance, and
efficiency. Now on with the PIREP:

I've got several hours in the Lightning now.
Hopefully this won't bore all
of you and I'll try not to be too technical. Let me
start with a little
history on the Lightning. The Lightning was
developed around the same lines
as the Esqual, a light, fast, fun, and affordable
sport plane. The
Lightning however is a totally new design that
exceeds the quality and
performance of the Esqual in every way! The Vol
Medici company that
marketed the Esqual sold off the company and (so
far) stop producing the
Esqual kits. Jabiru USA was the US importer for
Esqual. This aircraft
complemented the Jabiru line of aircraft as well as
providing for a low wing
alternative to the high wing Jabirus.

The wing of the Lightning was designed much like the
pressure recovery
wheelpants. The wheelpants are from the RV series
of aircraft and modified
to suit our own needs. RV borrowed the design from
Cessna. The idea is
that there was a better way to fair the landing gear
that would result in
less drag. At the point where the airflow starts to
detach from the surface
of the gear, the shape would create a suction that
would reattach the
boundry layer. The wing was designed as a kind of
teardrop shape with
concave trailing edge shape. It is a high laminar
flow wing.

The wing on the Lightning is similar to the wing
that was originally on the
Esqual wing, but made especially for the Lightning.
For various reasons
that airfoil was traded for a different one and the
molds were destroyed.
The new Esqual wing is more of a Clark Y "Hershey
Bar" type. That wing will
allow for a shorter takeoff run, but at the same
time will float forever if
you come in hot and get in ground effect. In
Europe, operating out of grass
strips the lower takeoff run and slower liftoff
speeds were more desirable
on a sport plane than all out speed. The Lightning
wing is whole different
beast. The speeds are higher on the plane for
takeoff and landing. The
flaps work much better than the Esqual in that they
provide the needed drag
where the Esqual is mostly lift and a means of not
accelerating when
pointing the nose down, kind of more like a speed
brake. As with any glass
plane it will accelerate rapidly when the nose is
pointed down in a clean
configuration. On one particular flight test in an
Esqual I tested for
aileron flutter after finding and tightning a loose
aileron. With the power
to idle in almost a vertical down line the Esqual
will quit accelerating and
hold about 185-195 mph indicated. The Lightning
will eagerly pass through
200 and rapidly accelerate past Vne.

There were two "hybrids" and one prototype aircraft.
The first hybrid,
which we refer to as the "Frankensqual" is an Esqual
fuselage with the
prototype set of Lightning wings. It has an old
80hp Jabiru 2200 engine and
will do 160mph flat out! The airplane is about
twice as pitch sensitive as
the Lightning with much lighter feeling on the
controls. It has a far aft
CG because of the lightweight of the engine and had
each wing that was
60lbs. heavier. This airplane had very impressive
performance and after
about 15 minutes of flying it you get used to the
sensitivity. The next was
Buz's plane, which tested the wheelpants, gear leg
fairings, and the cowling
for the lightning. Buz built the fastest Esqual in
the world, by about
40-50mph! In fact, his plane is similar in
performance to the Lightning.
In an all out speed comparison at 5,000 feet the
prototype Lightning pulled
away from Buz’s plane by about 1-2 knots. The pitch
of the prop wasn't set
to the optimal level on the prototype at the time in
its defense. Some of
the speed can certainly be attributed to Buz’s
craftmanship and attention to
detail. For those of you who have seen it you know
what I mean. Getting
everything faired over and making sure that you have
a tight fit and smooth
finish amounts to drag reduction, and superb looks.
Buz also got custom
leather interior and foam fitted seats put in. I
encourage any of you
builders to do something similar. The cloth seats
are comfortable, but
those leather/foam seats just really feel nice and
make for a comfortable
ride.

The prototype, as did Greg Hobbs' plane had a
thicker tail section, which
was the result of a miscommunication. The
fiberglass layups were extremely
thick in the tail, which resulted in a much heavier
fuselage with an aft CG.
While this is great for speed, it is horrible for
loading arrangements and
total useful load. All of the newer planes have a
lighter fuselage, which
should mean better takeoff performance and
acceleration. The prototype also
had an early horizontal stabilizer that was (I
think) 6lbs heavier per side.
It has since been replaced with a production tail.
Nick is continually
finding little ways to improve performance, looks,
functionality, etc. This
is as much his baby as anybody's and he continually
tweaks things. The
prototype eventually got to a little over 200mph TAS
in level flight. That
was at greater than the redline 3300 rpm though.

Now on to the Pilot Report:

First off, approaching the airplane you notice that
it
=== message truncated ===



Have a burning question?
Go to www.Answers.yahoo.com and get answers from real people who know.


- The Matronics Lightning-List Email Forum -
 

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Lightning-List
Back to top
dashvii(at)hotmail.com
Guest





PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:05 pm    Post subject: Comments Reply with quote

Charles,
The parachute on the Lightning is behind the seats. Mr. Davis whose
airplane just flew a day or two ago is going to add an autopilot after he
flies the time off and gets it back home. So he should be able to tell you
how the install was. Can't be too hard though if he decided to wait until
after the build and fly-off. The best guess that I have about how the
Lightning can be faster without retracts than the WT-9 would be that it's
almost like comparing apples and oranges. THe lightning paid attention to
lessons learned from experience building Esquals. The section of the
fuselage aft of the wing remains wide continuing back from the fuselage
further. This shape is better for lower drag. The cowling on the Lightning
is probably a lot less draggy than the WT-9, but that's just a guess. The
wings are a huge part of the total drag of the airplane. I believe this
figure is around 75% if I remember correctly. The Lightning wing is a
wonderful performer for manuevering flight, cruise, speed, and climb. Have
no idea what airfoil the WT-9 uses, but probably a less exotic and copy of
the old Clark Y or something.

Now there's been some interesting discussion about landing gear drag. I can
tell you that wheels and gear legs unfaired create a lot more drag than
faired ones. Buz had a huge speed increase just by putting on the fairings
and wheelpants. We never got a chance to test an Esqual fairing against a
Lightning one though. Cirrus and Diamond aircraft had considered making a
retract for their single engine planes, but found that with "pressure
recovery" wheelpants the drag was negligible. The insurance, weight, and
complexity increases with retracts. The Lightning has pressure recovery
wheelpants that are similar to the ones you'll find on the Van series of
aircraft. They minimize drag moreso than just a normal faired wheelpant
because the airflow stays attached to the unit further aft. I've not flown
the fixed gear or retractable WT-9, but I bet the speed difference isn't
over 2-5 knots total. It is an interesting debate, but if I was going to
design a high speed single I think that I'd make it fixed gear to help with
insurance and as a pilot it's just less to go wrong and have to maintain.
(although I do kind of like the old Mooney's with the all manual Johnson Bar
gear, emergency and normal gear extension is the same procedure!) Brian W.

_________________________________________________________________
Invite your Hotmail contacts to join your friends list with Windows Live
Spaces


- The Matronics Lightning-List Email Forum -
 

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Lightning-List
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Matronics Email Lists Forum Index -> Lightning-List All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You cannot download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group