 |
Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com
Guest
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:59 am Post subject: Total # of Esqual flying |
 |
|
Anyone out there know how many Esquals have been built
and are flying? The reason why I ask is the safety
record for the Esqual is nearly flawless on the NTSB
database. There was only one accident due to a man
installing motorcycle brakes which caused him to go
off the runway and into a creek. Hardly the fault of
the airplane. That is the only reported accident. No
fatalities.
--- Ron Wullaert <ron.wullaert(at)telenet.be> wrote:
[quote] Danny
Considered the Esqual... Yes, sure I did. Inspired
by it like the
Lightning... No, not really. All credit to the
Esqual design, without it
there would not be a Lightning. But the Esqual is
still the Esqual of years
ago, there is little or no evolution in it's design.
The guys from Arion on
the other hand, have worked hard to mature the
aircrafts design and make it
to something that exceeds the Esqual in many ways.
Even now, they don't sit
down and rest by what they have build. They are
still improving their bird
day after day. The spirit of what they build comes
to life in the peoples
who fly with Lightning and that's something I don't
see in the Esqual
community. Having that said, I'm sure the Esqual is
also a far better
choice than many of the other kits on the market
today. I wish you lots of
happy hours in your Esqual and sure would like to
see it when it's finished.
Many happy landings!
Ron
--
| | - 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
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:23 am Post subject: Total # of Esqual flying |
|
|
Keep in mind that the NTSB database is a U.S. database and that the aircraft
is a Spanish built kitplane. With that in mind, I don't believe that there
have been many accidents. There were a couple other incidents that I know
of and one fatal accident overseas. The plane was originally built with
Motoguzzi motorcycle wheels and brakes with the kit. Later model U.S. built
planes were built with Matco wheels and brakes. You'll find that the
Lightning is built with real wheels and brakes as well. Take a look here:
http://www.eaa.org/communications/eaanews/030515_esqual.html This is from
Pete "about 90 kits flying in Europe" as of 2003. I'd say that Pete
probably sold at least half that many more in the US and maybe that many.
Buz's plane is one of the newer ones off the line and has about 250hours on
it. So with several airplanes in the air, and many hours on those planes
I'd say it is a proven design. Brian W.
From: Charles Dewey <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com>
Reply-To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: RE: Total # of Esqual flying
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 06:59:00 -0800 (PST)
Anyone out there know how many Esquals have been built
and are flying? The reason why I ask is the safety
record for the Esqual is nearly flawless on the NTSB
database. There was only one accident due to a man
installing motorcycle brakes which caused him to go
off the runway and into a creek. Hardly the fault of
the airplane. That is the only reported accident. No
fatalities.
--- Ron Wullaert <ron.wullaert(at)telenet.be> wrote:
> Danny
>
> Considered the Esqual... Yes, sure I did. Inspired
> by it like the
> Lightning... No, not really. All credit to the
> Esqual design, without it
> there would not be a Lightning. But the Esqual is
> still the Esqual of years
> ago, there is little or no evolution in it's design.
> The guys from Arion on
> the other hand, have worked hard to mature the
> aircrafts design and make it
> to something that exceeds the Esqual in many ways.
> Even now, they don't sit
> down and rest by what they have build. They are
> still improving their bird
> day after day. The spirit of what they build comes
> to life in the peoples
> who fly with Lightning and that's something I don't
> see in the Esqual
> community. Having that said, I'm sure the Esqual is
> also a far better
> choice than many of the other kits on the market
> today. I wish you lots of
> happy hours in your Esqual and sure would like to
> see it when it's finished.
>
> Many happy landings!
> Ron
>
> --
| | - 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 |
|
|
Kayberg(at)AOL.COM
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:04 am Post subject: Total # of Esqual flying |
|
|
In a message dated 3/7/2007 10:01:42 AM Eastern Standard Time, cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com writes:
| Quote: |
Anyone out there know how many Esquals have been built
and are flying? The reason why I ask is the safety
record for the Esqual is nearly flawless on the NTSB
database. There was only one accident due to a man
installing motorcycle brakes which caused him to go
off the runway and into a creek. Hardly the fault of
the airplane. That is the only reported accident. No
fatalities.
--- Ron Wullaert <ron.wullaert(at)telenet.be> wrote:
|
I think the USA record is due in part to the handfull that have been imported.
The former owner of the manufacturing company in Spain was killed in an Esqual.
doug koenigsberg
AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL5326657x4311227241x4298082137/aol?redir=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eaol%2Ecom" target="_blank">AOL.com.
[quote][b]
| | - 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 |
|
|
pete(at)flylightning.net
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:49 am Post subject: Total # of Esqual flying |
|
|
We were told at one time by the designer that there were 90 flying in Europe
but the serial numbers that we received started at 18 in 2003 and the last
one was 75 in 2005. There have been several accidents - mostly caused by
landing gear and wheel problems in Europe and also some in the USA. Most of
those in the USA were not reported as the builders just quietly took care of
the problem.
Pete
--
| | - 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 |
|
|
N1BZRich(at)AOL.COM
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:02 pm Post subject: Total # of Esqual flying |
|
|
Hello all,
Since someone asked about Esquals, and my specific airplane has been mentioned, let me add a few comments. I estimate the number of Esqual kits still actively flying in the US is probably some where between 5 and 8, with probably 3 more to fly soon. Many more were built in Europe and some in Australia. The ones with the Jabiru engine are the fastest. My kit was serial number 70. I ordered the Esqual kit from Pete just after Sun-N-Fun 2005 because I did not want to wait a year for the Lightning kit design to become finalized and available. I had made the mistake of quoting a price for my Bonanza and, just like that, it was sold and I did not have a traveling airplane. I needed to replace it, but did not really need four seats. The Esqual looked like a good possibility and with Pete's builder's assist it could be completed quickly. However, during the build process I made many changes to the Esqual design. Some were just things I wanted to change to improve the looks, some changes were to improve performance, some changes were what I considered safety of flight issues, some changes were to improve maintainability, and other changes were by necessity - meaning that many of my kit parts were never delivered by the then new Esqual owner in Belgium. (Future kit buyers be careful.) Bottom line, my Esqual kit could never have been completed without Pete finding sources to fabricate the missing parts - central beam assembly, rudder and brake pedals, engine mount, etc. All of these parts were built by the future Lightning fabricators.
Here is a partial list of the changes I made:
-Dual brakes using Matco cylinders on all four brake/rudder pedal assemblies. This is true dual brakes, not like the passenger side dual brakes with cables to activate them, as is the case if you order dual brakes with the Esqual kit.
-Welded rudder pedal and brake assemblies made out of 4130 chromoly steel to replace the weak looking parts that the Esqual kit had. Well, My "weak looking" parts did not come, so had to have the future Lightning supplier weld up the parts for my airplane. So I have Lightning rudder and brake pedals.
-Matco wheels and brakes with 500x5 main wheel tires like on the Lightning.
-Stainless steel firewall like on the Lightning. The firewall that comes with the Esqual kit looks sub-standard to me - kind of like fiberglass cloth with aluminum film glued on. Not up to my safety standards.
-Mounted the brake fluid reservoir and electric fuel pump on the engine side of the firewall
to ease maintenance on these items.
-Dual throttles for pilot and co-pilot left hands.
-Moved the cockpit air inlets from the cowling to aft of the firewall using a NACA style ducts. By doing this you don't need to have holes in the firewall for cockpit air as on the Esqual kit. The Lightning is set up this way and in my book is much safer if you have en engine fire.
-Moved the "in cockpit" air outlets to just below and slightly forward of the bottom of the instrument panel on each side of the cockpit. This gives more panel room.
-Lowered the baggage floor to give more volume to the storage area.
-Had a complete upholstered cockpit done from leather look vinyl which I am told will last longer than real leather. Yes, heavier, but definitely more comfortable and better looking.
-Glassed in the wing tips (as several have done) to allow use of a tip light that is a combination trobe, colored position light, and a white position light all in one. This system is standard on the Lightning.
-Cut an area of the wing leading edges to provide room for a landing light and a taxi light.
-Glassed in the stabilizer to empennage junction (as several have done).
-Fitted Van's fiberglass gear leg fairings and wheel pants. The Lightning guys have developed similar fairings and wheel pants for the Lightning. This mod is probably good for at least 20 mph over the stock Esqual wheel pants and no gear leg fairings.
-Using AN hardware where possible. Standard on the Lightning.
-Modified one of the original Lightning cowlings to fit the Esqual fuselage. This cowling includes NACA ducts for carb air and the oil cooler, and has Lopresti style round air inlets. It is a much lower drag cowling than the one that comes with the Esqual kit and is another source of additional speed over the stock Esqual.
-I did not use a muffler at all (more power?) and get cockpit heat and carb heat from hear muffs on exhaust stacks.
-Oh yes, I almost forgot the "wide butt mod". I am 6'2'' and weigh about 215 pounds. I found that sitting in the Esqual molded fiberglass seat for any length of time, I would get "hot spots" on my hip bones. I cut
slits in that area of the seat pans, heated the fiberglass and pressed the area outward to widen the area, and then re-glassed the seat pans. It helps a lot on long flights.
There may be other small mods that I am not remembering, but these are the main ones. The result of all these changes and the extra equipment installed in the instrument panel, is probably the heaviest Esqual built to date at 765 pounds empty. But is a much safer airplane, a much faster airplane, and it has the capabilities and looks that I wanted. Pete has told me that it is the fastest Esqual built and the highest flying one as well. I have seen 188 mph TAS at 5,000 feet and I have had it to 16,000 feet. At that altitude it was still climbing at 400 fpm. My feet were so cold I did not want to go any higher. It still has a very low stall speed of about 35 mph with 30 degrees of flaps or about 44 mph with no flaps.
Note: Even with all these changes and not working full time, with the help of the builder's assist program that is now available for the Lightning, I was able to complete my Esqual LS (Lightning Stuff) in just 3 months. The process could have been much quicker had I not made all these changes. I guess you could call this an endorsement for the SYI guys and their excellent builders assist program. Try it, you'll like it. And the Lightning kit is less expensive, readily available, safer, stronger, faster, easier to maintain and, with the exception of the engine, all US made.
Thus far I have only flown the Prototype Lightning and the Hybird Lightning, but when the Demonstrator is completed, I will fly it in order to provide a similar flight evaluation to the one I wrote after flying the Prototype. This flight evaluation will be aimed towards exactly what a Lightning customer can expect their airplane to fly like and the performance that can be expected. "Throw me in that briar patch", or in other words, I look forward to that assignment.
Blue Skies,
Buz
PS: I still have a fast Esqual with lots of Lightning mods for sale.
AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.
[quote][b]
| | - 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 |
|
|
pete(at)flylightning.net
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:57 pm Post subject: Total # of Esqual flying |
|
|
From the FAA web site – there are 12 Esquals with AW certificates that are flying. Eleven sold by Esqual North America or Jabiru USA and one sold direct from Limair (I guess) at the time we could not get metal parts for our kits and Limair was keeping our deposit money for kits not delivered. The kit sold by Limair is serial 72 and the last ones we sold were 74 & 75.. It would be interesting to find if Limair supplies him with metal parts that they never supplied to our builders.
Pete
From: owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com] On Behalf Of N1BZRich(at)aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 2:02 PM
To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: Re: Total # of Esqual flying
Hello all,
Since someone asked about Esquals, and my specific airplane has been mentioned, let me add a few comments. I estimate the number of Esqual kits still actively flying in the US is probably some where between 5 and 8, with probably 3 more to fly soon. Many more were built in Europe and some in Australia. The ones with the Jabiru engine are the fastest. My kit was serial number 70. I ordered the Esqual kit from Pete just after Sun-N-Fun 2005 because I did not want to wait a year for the Lightning kit design to become finalized and available. I had made the mistake of quoting a price for my Bonanza and, just like that, it was sold and I did not have a traveling airplane. I needed to replace it, but did not really need four seats. The Esqual looked like a good possibility and with Pete's builder's assist it could be completed quickly. However, during the build process I made many changes to the Esqual design. Some were just things I wanted to change to improve the looks, some changes were to improve performance, some changes were what I considered safety of flight issues, some changes were to improve maintainability, and other changes were by necessity - meaning that many of my kit parts were never delivered by the then new Esqual owner in Belgium. (Future kit buyers be careful.) Bottom line, my Esqual kit could never have been completed without Pete finding sources to fabricate the missing parts - central beam assembly, rudder and brake pedals, engine mount, etc. All of these parts were built by the future Lightning fabricators.
Here is a partial list of the changes I made:
-Dual brakes using Matco cylinders on all four brake/rudder pedal assemblies. This is true dual brakes, not like the passenger side dual brakes with cables to activate them, as is the case if you order dual brakes with the Esqual kit.
-Welded rudder pedal and brake assemblies made out of 4130 chromoly steel to replace the weak looking parts that the Esqual kit had. Well, My "weak looking" parts did not come, so had to have the future Lightning supplier weld up the parts for my airplane. So I have Lightning rudder and brake pedals.
-Matco wheels and brakes with 500x5 main wheel tires like on the Lightning.
-Stainless steel firewall like on the Lightning. The firewall that comes with the Esqual kit looks sub-standard to me - kind of like fiberglass cloth with aluminum film glued on. Not up to my safety standards.
-Mounted the brake fluid reservoir and electric fuel pump on the engine side of the firewall
to ease maintenance on these items.
-Dual throttles for pilot and co-pilot left hands.
-Moved the cockpit air inlets from the cowling to aft of the firewall using a NACA style ducts. By doing this you don't need to have holes in the firewall for cockpit air as on the Esqual kit. The Lightning is set up this way and in my book is much safer if you have en engine fire.
-Moved the "in cockpit" air outlets to just below and slightly forward of the bottom of the instrument panel on each side of the cockpit. This gives more panel room.
-Lowered the baggage floor to give more volume to the storage area.
-Had a complete upholstered cockpit done from leather look vinyl which I am told will last longer than real leather. Yes, heavier, but definitely more comfortable and better looking.
-Glassed in the wing tips (as several have done) to allow use of a tip light that is a combination trobe, colored position light, and a white position light all in one. This system is standard on the Lightning.
-Cut an area of the wing leading edges to provide room for a landing light and a taxi light.
-Glassed in the stabilizer to empennage junction (as several have done).
-Fitted Van's fiberglass gear leg fairings and wheel pants. The Lightning guys have developed similar fairings and wheel pants for the Lightning. This mod is probably good for at least 20 mph over the stock Esqual wheel pants and no gear leg fairings.
-Using AN hardware where possible. Standard on the Lightning.
-Modified one of the original Lightning cowlings to fit the Esqual fuselage. This cowling includes NACA ducts for carb air and the oil cooler, and has Lopresti style round air inlets. It is a much lower drag cowling than the one that comes with the Esqual kit and is another source of additional speed over the stock Esqual.
-I did not use a muffler at all (more power?) and get cockpit heat and carb heat from hear muffs on exhaust stacks.
-Oh yes, I almost forgot the "wide butt mod". I am 6'2'' and weigh about 215 pounds. I found that sitting in the Esqual molded fiberglass seat for any length of time, I would get "hot spots" on my hip bones. I cut
slits in that area of the seat pans, heated the fiberglass and pressed the area outward to widen the area, and then re-glassed the seat pans. It helps a lot on long flights.
There may be other small mods that I am not remembering, but these are the main ones. The result of all these changes and the extra equipment installed in the instrument panel, is probably the heaviest Esqual built to date at 765 pounds empty. But is a much safer airplane, a much faster airplane, and it has the capabilities and looks that I wanted. Pete has told me that it is the fastest Esqual built and the highest flying one as well. I have seen 188 mph TAS at 5,000 feet and I have had it to 16,000 feet. At that altitude it was still climbing at 400 fpm. My feet were so cold I did not want to go any higher. It still has a very low stall speed of about 35 mph with 30 degrees of flaps or about 44 mph with no flaps.
Note: Even with all these changes and not working full time, with the help of the builder's assist program that is now available for the Lightning, I was able to complete my Esqual LS (Lightning Stuff) in just 3 months. The process could have been much quicker had I not made all these changes. I guess you could call this an endorsement for the SYI guys and their excellent builders assist program. Try it, you'll like it. And the Lightning kit is less expensive, readily available, safer, stronger, faster, easier to maintain and, with the exception of the engine, all US made.
Thus far I have only flown the Prototype Lightning and the Hybird Lightning, but when the Demonstrator is completed, I will fly it in order to provide a similar flight evaluation to the one I wrote after flying the Prototype. This flight evaluation will be aimed towards exactly what a Lightning customer can expect their airplane to fly like and the performance that can be expected. "Throw me in that briar patch", or in other words, I look forward to that assignment.
Blue Skies,
Buz
PS: I still have a fast Esqual with lots of Lightning mods for sale.
AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.
| Quote: | | http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Lightning-List |
01234
[quote][b]
| | - 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 |
|
|
|
|
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
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
