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Lightning/Esqual Pics

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dashvii(at)hotmail.com
Guest

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:58 am Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

Here are some comparison pictures.  As I've already established the planes 

look similar and were designed for basically the same role, to be a fun 

airplane, but there are some differences in looks too.



Picture 1 - This is the Esqual wing planform.  I drew a dashed blue line to 

show the basic shape of the wing as it does have a little wingtip flare at 

the end.  This is a different airfoil than the Lightning.  In a power off 

dive the Esqual wing will top out at about 195mph (terminal velocity) but 

the Lightning wing keeps going to ???Mph.



Picture 2 - This is the Hybrid Esqual actually, but the prototype Lightning 

wing was tested on this airframe, so it is identical in shape at least to 

the Lightning wing on the production planes.  As you can see the airfoil is 

slightly thicker, It almost looks symmetrical but isn't, and it has this 

interesting dual trailing edge cusp which makes a teardrop shape.  The idea 

is that it will work like the pressure recovery wheelpants and create a 

lower pressure towards the back of the airfoil making it stay laminar for 

longer.



Picture 3 - This is an Esqual from the front quarter.  Notice that the 

canopy just swings up and has nothing holding it up but forward weight.  The 

inlets are square on the cowling and the scoop pretrudes out the bottom of 

the cowling for the oil cooler.



Picture 4 - The cowling inlets are round, the oil cooler is fed by a NACA 

duct.  (there's a new NACA duct that has been tested and shown even better 

cooling, I think 10 degrees cooler in oil temps!)  This canopy is held up by 

gas struts to keep it in place.  There are side rear windows.  It may be 

hard to tell in most of these pics but the shape of the canopy is different 

and the optics are much clearer in the Lightning.  The Esqual always had 

distortion in the canopy.  The canopy also seems to be thicker in the 

Lightning.



Picture 5 - This is me running up an Esqual last winter.  Good profile 

comparison



Picture 6 - The Lightning has a longer nose to it.  These planes always felt 

sportier with how it sits with the long nose and all.  Notice the afterbody 

behind the wing section stays the same longer ont he Lightning before 

beginning to taper.  This means more speed than the Esqual due to the more 

favorable cross sectional area.  Again there's a rear window and you can 

actually see behind you.  That's something the Esqual really lacked.  The 

tail is slightly taller in the Lightning giving better rudder authority.  

This plane feels a lot better in a strong crosswind landing than the Esqual.



Pic 7 - Another profile view of the Esqual.



Pic 8 - The Lightning has weighted and balanced control surfaces which the 

Esqual lacked.  This allows for higher speeds without encountering flutter 

and also a good feel to the controls in flight.  That leading edge on the 

vertical stabilizer acts like a spade and gives more of a feel to the rudder 

than the Esqual had.



Have one more set of pics coming

lozhoffman(at)yahoo.com
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 1:38 am Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

HI Brian,

Just a quick note to say thank you for the time that

you have obviously put into organising the comparison

photos. As someone who has been trying to compare the

two airframes for some time without having actually

seen either in the flesh, your information has been

invaluable.

Laurie

Sydney



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



 	  Quote: 	
		   Here are some comparison pictures.  As I've already

 established the planes 

 look similar and were designed for basically the

 same role, to be a fun 

 airplane, but there are some differences in looks

 too.

 

 Picture 1 - This is the Esqual wing planform.  I

 drew a dashed blue line to 

 show the basic shape of the wing as it does have a

 little wingtip flare at 

 the end.  This is a different airfoil than the

 Lightning.  In a power off 

 dive the Esqual wing will top out at about 195mph

 (terminal velocity) but 

 the Lightning wing keeps going to ???Mph.

 

 Picture 2 - This is the Hybrid Esqual actually, but

 the prototype Lightning 

 wing was tested on this airframe, so it is identical

 in shape at least to 

 the Lightning wing on the production planes.  As you

 can see the airfoil is 

 slightly thicker, It almost looks symmetrical but

 isn't, and it has this 

 interesting dual trailing edge cusp which makes a

 teardrop shape.  The idea 

 is that it will work like the pressure recovery

 wheelpants and create a 

 lower pressure towards the back of the airfoil

 making it stay laminar for 

 longer.

 

 Picture 3 - This is an Esqual from the front

 quarter.  Notice that the 

 canopy just swings up and has nothing holding it up

 but forward weight.  The 

 inlets are square on the cowling and the scoop

 pretrudes out the bottom of 

 the cowling for the oil cooler.

 

 Picture 4 - The cowling inlets are round, the oil

 cooler is fed by a NACA 

 duct.  (there's a new NACA duct that has been tested

 and shown even better 

 cooling, I think 10 degrees cooler in oil temps!) 

 This canopy is held up by 

 gas struts to keep it in place.  There are side rear

 windows.  It may be 

 hard to tell in most of these pics but the shape of

 the canopy is different 

 and the optics are much clearer in the Lightning. 

 The Esqual always had 

 distortion in the canopy.  The canopy also seems to

 be thicker in the 

 Lightning.

 

 Picture 5 - This is me running up an Esqual last

 winter.  Good profile 

 comparison

 

 Picture 6 - The Lightning has a longer nose to it. 

 These planes always felt 

 sportier with how it sits with the long nose and

 all.  Notice the afterbody 

 behind the wing section stays the same longer ont he

 Lightning before 

 beginning to taper.  This means more speed than the

 Esqual due to the more 

 favorable cross sectional area.  Again there's a

 rear window and you can 

 actually see behind you.  That's something the

 Esqual really lacked.  The 

 tail is slightly taller in the Lightning giving

 better rudder authority.  

 This plane feels a lot better in a strong crosswind

 landing than the Esqual.

 

 Pic 7 - Another profile view of the Esqual.

 

 Pic 8 - The Lightning has weighted and balanced

 control surfaces which the 

 Esqual lacked.  This allows for higher speeds

 without encountering flutter 

 and also a good feel to the controls in flight. 

 That leading edge on the 

 vertical stabilizer acts like a spade and gives more

 of a feel to the rudder 

 than the Esqual had.

 

 Have one more set of pics coming

 

 


	




__________________________________________________

N1BZRich(at)AOL.COM
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:44 am Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

A couple of questions for Nick, Brian, and all Lightning and/or Esqual  listers to consider.  It has been stated several times on these list that  the terminal velocity of the Esqual is 195 mph (due to the wing).  Help me  to understand terminal velocity.  I know what it means for a falling  object, but what is the definition for an airplane - is it at idle power or full  power?  Is it at 90 degrees of dive angle?  Why do I ask - well I have  seen 198 mph in level flight while making a pass down the runway here in  Williamsburg (almost sea level).  That was with the 54 fixed pitch prop and  I was pulling the power slightly to keep from going over 3300 rpm.  So, am  I going terminal velocity in level flight?  How can I do that - does the  Lightning cowling on 31BZ help the Esqual drag curve that much?  From my  flight testing phase we already know that the Lightning cowling certainly  increases cruise and top speed on 31BZ, but can it have that much an  effect on terminal velocity?  Points to ponder!

 Blue Skies,

 Buz

  [quote][b]

dashvii(at)hotmail.com
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:41 am Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

Buzz,

   It was at an altitude of about 12,000 feet starting, power to idle, nose 

down to about 30 degrees and then steeper.  I couldn't get anymore out of it 

with power at idle.  Now with power in I could get the speed to climb.  By 

terminal velocity I was stating that there must be a large drag rise on the 

airfoil at around that airspeed.  I was reading indicated, don't know what 

the TAS was.  With some power you should be able to overcome that rise in 

drag but it is in my opinion that Bravo Zulu is bumping up against that part 

of the curve where the drag goes way up with an increase in speed.  I think 

there's two ways to overcome this, either reduce drag, such as gap seals, 

hinge fairings, etc, or add more power to the plane.



I do believe that your plane probably suffers quit a bit less from drag 

penalties as do other Esquals, obviously something to it since you have the 

fastest Esqual ever built.  It is a good question though.  It is my 

assumption that it is because of a rise in drag.  With no power in and 

approaching a vertical orientation why else would there be a difference?  

Brian W.



P.S.  If you could bring that roll of duralar to SYI when you do come in 

November that'd be great!  Did you ever get your new autopilot installed 

yet?

N1BZRich(at)AOL.COM
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:53 pm Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

In a message dated 10/8/2006 12:42:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  dashvii(at)hotmail.com writes:

  	  Quote: 	
		  It was    at an altitude of about 12,000 feet starting, power to idle, nose 

down to    about 30 degrees and then steeper.  I couldn't get anymore out of it    

with power at idle. 	


 

 So the total drag of the Esqual you were flying was the real culprit.   Total meaning wings, fuselage, gear leg fairings, wheel pants, cowling,  etc.  Also, with the engine in idle with the prop wind milling would add to  the drag total as well.  It would have been interesting to do the same test  in 424EA - the hybrid Esqual with the Lightning wings.  But I  certainly agree with your bottom line that the Lightning wing is a  considerably lower drag wing than the Esqual wing.  

 Buz

  [quote][b]

N1BZRich(at)AOL.COM
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 6:51 pm Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

In a message dated 10/8/2006 12:42:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  dashvii(at)hotmail.com writes:

  	  Quote: 	
		  P.S.  If you could bring that roll of duralar to SYI when you do    come in 

November that'd be great!  Did you ever get your new    autopilot installed 

yet?

	


 

 Brain, I forgot to answer the above.  Yes, I did get the new autopilot  installed during my last trip to SYI.  It is working fine.  And yes, I  will bring the duralar to you guys when I drive through there in early November  on my way to Colorado.  I need to also bring Ben my framing nail  gun.  I think he plans some kind of secret mods to his Mustang so  it will be as fast as Nick's Corvette.  If all goes according to  plan I will be driving my new Corvette on this trip.  

 Blue Skies,

 Buz

  [quote][b]

dashvii(at)hotmail.com
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 7:38 pm Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

Buzz,

  I've never done the power-off dive in 424EA, but the plane that I did it 

in also didn't have gear leg fairings or wheelpants at the time.  So there's 

even additional drag on the airframe.

vettin74(at)yahoo.com
Guest

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:17 am Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

LOL......

   

  nick



N1BZRich(at)aol.com wrote:

  [quote]      In a message dated 10/8/2006 12:42:55 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, dashvii(at)hotmail.com writes:

   	  Quote: 	
		  P.S.  If you could bring that roll of duralar to SYI when you do come in 

November that'd be great!  Did you ever get your new autopilot installed 

yet?

	


  

  Brain, I forgot to answer the above.  Yes, I did get the new autopilot installed during my last trip to SYI.  It is working fine.  And yes, I will bring the duralar [quote][b]

jefflach(at)airlan.com.au
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 1:50 am Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

Hi  from Australia,

 I  noticed the mention of an installation of an autopilot.  What exactly have  you installed?  Has anyone come acoss a single axis autopolit by Navaid  Devices Inc. Can anyone give experience on this unit at all and would it be  suitable in the lightning.

 regards Jeff

 [quote]   --

N1BZRich(at)AOL.COM
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:29 pm Post subject: Lightning/Esqual Pics

In a message dated 10/15/2006 5:51:12 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  jefflach(at)airlan.com.au writes:

  	  Quote: 	
		  I noticed the    mention of an installation of an autopilot.  What exactly have you    installed? 	


 

 Jeff,

      I have the TruTrak Flight Systems Digiflight  ll installed with two TruTrak servos.  This system provides pitch, roll and  altitude hold.  Before this system was in I had the TruTrak Pictoral Pilot  which was a roll axis only "wing leveler".  Both are fantastic systems and  relatively inexpensive when compared to systems for  certified aircraft.    

 Blue Skies,

 Buz

  [quote][b]

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