Finished Lightning kitNo36

[hfrensch]

I have attached the photos and a copy of the text I sent to the lightning group in the USA at the completion of building my brothers lightning.

 

"We have finally finished this lightning kit after two and a half years (1600hrs) of work. There was a lot of frustration but also a lot of pleasure and the end result was very pleasing. The kit belongs to my brother John who did not have the confidence to build, so I did the technical side of the work and my brother the paint work and trimming. The reason for the extended build time was my limited time at my brothers place as he lives three and a half hours drive from my place and we did all the work ourselves with no outside help. I have built two Jabiru kits before which still belong to our family and are used frequently.

 

I fitted a voyager EFIS into the panel and the engine is fitted with electronic fuel injection using a Haltech ECU with a Jenvey trottle body and 2 RX 7 injectors. This is the same set up I fitted to my Jabiru when I built it and it has run 350hours without trouble. We are currently conducting high speed taxi tests to get used to the toe brakes. then into the test flying."

 

Since I wrote the article my brother has completed 6 hours of test flying .

 

Engine temps are all in the green. With the current prop pitch setting which I left on the fine side to give him a better climb rate while he is getteng used to the lightning ;at 2600RPM is 110Kn, at 2800RPM is 120Kn, at 3100RPM is 140KN.

 

Cheers Helmut.

 

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[facthunter]

No Joy.

 

Good work Helmut. Nev

 

 

[hfrensch]

Kit No 36 finished.

 

I will try to add photos again see if it works

 

Cheers Helmut.

 

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[GraemeK]

Beautiful job Helmut! Nice looking plane, like the panel ....

 

 

[dazza 38]

wonderful job guys

 

 

[hfrensch]

Thanks guys , we were pleased with the end result and had a few ales to celebrate. The next celebration will be when the 25 hours are flown off and all the fine tuning completed.

 

Cheers Helmut.

 

PS I tried to set up a picture story of the build but could not get it to work in this forum.

 

 

[BigPete]

That's great Helmut - how about reporting in as you burn off those 25hrs.

 

Cheers

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Beautiful Helmut, just beautiful. So sleek. Now you can use the same signature as I do:-)

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

There can be few things in life which equal the satisfaction of buildng your own aircraft, I hope one day I too can enjoy the satisfaction that you must be feeling. A job well done!:thumb_up:

 

 

[hfrensch]

Thanks Howard,if you want to build a kit aircraft then do it. I have built 3 kit aircraft in the last 12 years, not because I would rather build then fly just the opposite I would sooner fly then build. Building is also enjoyable especially if you have a plane to fly while building which was the case with me. It is also not that difficult it just takes perserverance like eating a elephant one bite at a time.

 

Cheers Helmut.

 

 

[patrick55]

Unbelievable, what a beautiful aircraft ! Well Done.

 

 

[hfrensch]

The empty weight including headsets ,boarding steps and unusable fuel is 352Kg.

 

Cheers Helmut.