---------------------------------------------------------- Lightning-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Fri 12/21/07: 14 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 08:46 AM - Night before Christmas (N1BZRich@AOL.COM) 2. 08:57 AM - Re: Night before Christmas () 3. 09:41 AM - Lightning in 2008 (nick otterback) 4. 09:48 AM - Santas FAA Visit (Amber Wilson) 5. 10:03 AM - Re: Lightning in 2008 (N1BZRich@AOL.COM) 6. 10:43 AM - Re: Lightning in 2008 (Colin J. Kennedy) 7. 10:51 AM - An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus (Brian Whittingham) 8. 11:01 AM - Re: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus (Brian Whittingham) 9. 11:18 AM - Re: Lightning in 2008 (nick otterback) 10. 11:26 AM - Re: Lightning in 2008 (nick otterback) 11. 11:37 AM - Re: Santas FAA Visit () 12. 12:05 PM - Re: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus (Amber Wilson) 13. 12:19 PM - Re: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus (Brian Whittingham) 14. 12:21 PM - Re: Lightning in 2008 (Colin J. Kennedy) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 08:46:39 AM PST US From: N1BZRich@AOL.COM Subject: Lightning-List: Night before Christmas You probably have seen this before, but this one has some Lightning list specifics included: 'Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp, Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ. The aircraft were fastened to tiedowns with care, In hopes that come morning, they all would be there. The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots, With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots. I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up, And settled down comfortably, resting my butt. When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter, I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter. A voice clearly heard over static and snow, Called for clearance to land at the airport below. He barked his transmission so lively and quick, I'd have sworn that the call sign he used was "St. Nick"; I ran to the panel to turn up the lights, The better to welcome this magical flight. He called his position, no room for denial, "St. Nicholas One, turnin' left onto final." And what to my wondering eyes should appear, But an Arion-built sleigh, with eight cylinder Jabiru Reindeer! With vectors to final, down the glideslope he came, As he passed all fixes, he called them by name: "Now Lightning! Now Esqual! Now Pitts and Boeing! On Cessnat! On Bonanza!" What pills was he doing'? While controllers were sittin', and scratchin' their head, They phoned to my office, and I heard it with dread, The message they left was both urgent and dour: "When Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower." He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking, Then I heard "Left at Charlie," and "Taxi to parking." He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh And stopped on the ramp with a "Ho, ho-ho- ho..." He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk, I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks. His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost And his beard was all blackened from engine exhaust. His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale, And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn't inhale. His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly, His boots were as black as a crop duster's belly. He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red, And he asked me to "fill it, with hundred low- lead." He came dashing in from the snow-covered pump, I knew he was anxious for drainin' the sump. I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work, And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk. He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief, Then he picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief. And I thought as he silently scribed in his log, These reindeer could land in an eighth-mile fog. He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear, Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, "Clear!" And laying a finger on his push-to-talk, He called up the tower for clearance and squawk. "Take taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction, Turn right three-two-zero at pilot's discretion." He sped down the runway, the best of the best, "Your traffic's a Piper, inbound from the west." Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed through the night, "Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight." **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 08:57:26 AM PST US From: Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Night before Christmas That's the BEST Christmas poem I ever heard!! ---- N1BZRich@aol.com wrote: > You probably have seen this before, but this one has some Lightning list > specifics included: > > 'Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp, > Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ. > The aircraft were fastened to tiedowns with care, > In hopes that come morning, they all would be there. > The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots, > With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots. > I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up, > And settled down comfortably, resting my butt. > When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter, > I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter. > A voice clearly heard over static and snow, > Called for clearance to land at the airport below. > He barked his transmission so lively and quick, > I'd have sworn that the call sign he used was "St. Nick"; > I ran to the panel to turn up the lights, > The better to welcome this magical flight. > He called his position, no room for denial, > "St. Nicholas One, turnin' left onto final." > And what to my wondering eyes should appear, > But an Arion-built sleigh, with eight cylinder Jabiru Reindeer! > With vectors to final, down the glideslope he came, > As he passed all fixes, he called them by name: > "Now Lightning! Now Esqual! Now Pitts and Boeing! > On Cessnat! On Bonanza!" What pills was he doing'? > While controllers were sittin', and scratchin' their head, > They phoned to my office, and I heard it with dread, > The message they left was both urgent and dour: > "When Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower." > He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking, > Then I heard "Left at Charlie," and "Taxi to parking." > He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh > And stopped on the ramp with a "Ho, ho-ho- ho..." > He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk, > I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks. > His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost > And his beard was all blackened from engine exhaust. > His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale, > And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn't inhale. > His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly, > His boots were as black as a crop duster's belly. > He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red, > And he asked me to "fill it, with hundred low- lead." > He came dashing in from the snow-covered pump, > I knew he was anxious for drainin' the sump. > I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work, > And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk. > He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief, > Then he picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief. > And I thought as he silently scribed in his log, > These reindeer could land in an eighth-mile fog. > He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear, > Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, "Clear!" > And laying a finger on his push-to-talk, > He called up the tower for clearance and squawk. > "Take taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction, > Turn right three-two-zero at pilot's discretion." > He sped down the runway, the best of the best, > "Your traffic's a Piper, inbound from the west." > Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed through the night, > "Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight." > > > > > **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes > (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 09:41:54 AM PST US From: nick otterback Subject: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 To All, Just sending a year end note to the group. All kits have been sold out for 2007, current delivery times are mid march. With that is mind we will be raising the price of the kit to $34,900, a 1,000 dollar increase. We hoped to not raise the price however we must for the new items which are standard on all kits for 2008. As promised at the lightning homecoming 2 items have been finished. The new instrument panel box is finished, the instrument panel no longer is flat to the edges but is installed in a formed box which will give a much more finished look and allow more panel room. Also the new canopy frame and outer skins have been finished. This will allow the builder to fine tune the gap between the frame and fuse and finish the contour of the frame to fuse perfectly. There no longer is a problem with the panel to canopy frame interference. We have eliminated the use of sixaflex to bond the canopy, although not a problem in anyway structrually, it did provide some flex in the frame. Now the canopy is bonded to the top flange of the frame only, than a skin is bonded to the bottom flange and on to the canopy creating a very ridged frame. The barrel latches have been eliminated and a new single overhead latch installed, which is also accesible to the out side. We hope the rise in the kit price does not lessen anyones interest in the Lightning, but that the new improvments to the aircraft will make it worth your while. Look for pictures after the first of the year for the improvments, these are currently installed in the prototype and are working well. Nick Otterback Arion Aircraft LLC --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 09:48:17 AM PST US From: Amber Wilson Subject: Lightning-List: Santas FAA Visit Santa Claus, like all pilots, gets regular visits from the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FAA examiner arrived last week for the pre-Christmas flight check. In preparation, Santa had the elves wash the sled and bathe all the reindeer. Santa got his logbook out and made sure all his paperwork was in order. He knew they would examine all his equipment and truly put Santa's flying skills to the test. The examiner walked slowly around the sled. He checked the reindeer harnesses, the landing gear, and even Rudolph's nose. He painstakingly reviewed Santa's weight and balance calculations for sled's enormous payload. Finally, they were ready for the check ride. Santa got in and fastened his seat belt and shoulder harness and checked the compass. Then the examiner hopped in carrying, to Santa's surprise, a shotgun. "What's that for!?" asked Santa incredulously. The examiner winked and said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this ahead of time," as he leaned over to whisper in Santa's ear, "but you're gonna lose an engine on takeoff." JP Instruments Amber Wilson FAA STC Administrator JPIAmber@yahoo.com 800-945-4574 X204 ----- Original Message ---- From: "scottarden@cox.net" Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 8:57:00 AM Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Night before Christmas That's the BEST Christmas poem I ever heard!! ---- N1BZRich@aol.com wrote: > You probably have seen this before, but this one has some Lightning list > specifics included: > > 'Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp, > Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ. > The aircraft were fastened to tiedowns with care, > In hopes that come morning, they all would be there. > The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots, > With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots. > I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up, > And settled down comfortably, resting my butt. > When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter, > I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter. > A voice clearly heard over static and snow, > Called for clearance to land at the airport below. > He barked his transmission so lively and quick, > I'd have sworn that the call sign he used was "St. Nick"; > I ran to the panel to turn up the lights, > The better to welcome this magical flight. > He called his position, no room for denial, > "St. Nicholas One, turnin' left onto final." > And what to my wondering eyes should appear, > But an Arion-built sleigh, with eight cylinder Jabiru Reindeer! > With vectors to final, down the glideslope he came, > As he passed all fixes, he called them by name: > "Now Lightning! Now Esqual! Now Pitts and Boeing! > On Cessnat! On Bonanza!" What pills was he doing'? > While controllers were sittin', and scratchin' their head, > They phoned to my office, and I heard it with dread, > The message they left was both urgent and dour: > "When Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower." > He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking, > Then I heard "Left at Charlie," and "Taxi to parking." > He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh > And stopped on the ramp with a "Ho, ho-ho- ho..." > He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk, > I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks. > His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost > And his beard was all blackened from engine exhaust. > His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale, > And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn't inhale. > His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly, > His boots were as black as a crop duster's belly. > He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red, > And he asked me to "fill it, with hundred low- lead." > He came dashing in from the snow-covered pump, > I knew he was anxious for drainin' the sump. > I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work, > And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk. > He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief, > Then he picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief. > And I thought as he silently scribed in his log, > These reindeer could land in an eighth-mile fog. > He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear, > Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, "Clear!" > And laying a finger on his push-to-talk, > He called up the tower for clearance and squawk. > "Take taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction, > Turn right three-two-zero at pilot's discretion." > He sped down the runway, the best of the best, > "Your traffic's a Piper, inbound from the west." > Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed through the night, > "Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight." > > > > > **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes > (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) Looking for last minute shopping deals? ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 10:03:57 AM PST US From: N1BZRich@AOL.COM Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 What? No mention of the Lightning retractable tail dragger, single seat model with the clipped wings, the 8 cylinder engine and the drag chute for landing? And how about the twin engine Lightning, and the four seat Lightning, and the vertical takeoff lightning, and the stealth Ligntning, and the amphibious Lightning that can be street driven. I know you have been busy with that customer from the North Pole, designing his new roof landing Lightning with the large fuel tanks and humongous baggage compartment, but not all of us needs that much baggage space. We just want that fully unlimited aerobatic, STOL, full IFR, 400 mph, 6 place model that still burns less than 6 gph. How is that one coming along? Merry Christmas to all, The Grinch **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 10:43:07 AM PST US From: "Colin J. Kennedy" Subject: RE: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 It is good to see the development continuing Nick and the build manual being updated. Looking forward to the pictures! Is there any news of progress on the extended wingtips? Colin K. OK -----Original Message----- From: owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of nick otterback Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 11:40 AM Subject: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 To All, Just sending a year end note to the group. All kits have been sold out for 2007, current delivery times are mid march. With that is mind we will be raising the price of the kit to $34,900, a 1,000 dollar increase. We hoped to not raise the price however we must for the new items which are standard on all kits for 2008. As promised at the lightning homecoming 2 items have been finished. The new instrument panel box is finished, the instrument panel no longer is flat to the edges but is installed in a formed box which will give a much more finished look and allow more panel room. Also the new canopy frame and outer skins have been finished. This will allow the builder to fine tune the gap between the frame and fuse and finish the contour of the frame to fuse perfectly. There no longer is a problem with the panel to canopy frame interference. We have eliminated the use of sixaflex to bond the canopy, although not a problem in anyway structrually, it did provide some flex in the frame. Now the canopy is bonded to the top flange of the frame only, than a skin is bonded to the bottom flange and on to the canopy creating a very ridged frame. The barrel latches have been eliminated and a new single overhead latch installed, which is also accesible to the out side. We hope the rise in the kit price does not lessen anyones interest in the Lightning, but that the new improvments to the aircraft will make it worth your while. Look for pictures after the first of the year for the improvments, these are currently installed in the prototype and are working well. Nick Otterback Arion Aircraft LLC _____ Be a better friend, newshound, and ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 10:51:30 AM PST US From: Brian Whittingham Subject: Lightning-List: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus Santa Claus:An Engineers PerspectiveI. There are approximately two billion children (persons under 18) in the world. However, since Santa does not vis it children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist religions, this reduces th e workload for Christmas night to 15% of the total, or 378 million (accordi ng to the Population Reference Bureau). At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per house hold, that comes to 1 08 million homes, presuming that there is at least one good child in each. II. Santa has about 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the diffe rent time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 967.7 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with a good child, Santa has a round 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimn ey, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, e at whatever snacks have been left for him, get back up the chimney, jump in to the sleigh and get on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 108 million stops is evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false, but will accept for the p urposes of our calculations), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per house hold; a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting bathroom stops or br eaks. This means Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second --- 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second, a nd a conventional reindeer can run (at best) 15 miles per hour. III. The payload of the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming t hat each child gets nothing more than a medium sized Lego set (two pounds), the sleigh is carrying over 500 thousand tons, not counting Santa himself. On land, a conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even gr anting that the "flying" reindeer could pull ten times the normal amount, t he job can't be done with eight or even nine of them--- Santa would need 36 0,000 of them. This increases the payload, not counting the weight of the s leigh, another 54,000 tons, or roughly seven times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth (the ship, not the monarch). IV. 600,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air res istance --- this would heat up the reindeer in the same fashion as a spacec raft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer would ab sorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short, they woul d burst into flames almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind th em and creating deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team would be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a se cond, or right about the time Santa reached the fifth house on his trip. Not that it matters, however, since Santa, as a result of accellerating fro m a dead stop to 650 m.p.s. in .001 seconds, would be subjected to centrifu gal forces of 17,500 g's. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force, ins tantly crushing his bones and organs and reducing him to a quivering blob o f pink goo. Therefore, if Santa did exist, he's dead now. _________________________________________________________________ Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_1220 07 ________________________________ Message 8 _____________________________________ Time: 11:01:44 AM PST US From: Brian Whittingham Subject: RE: Lightning-List: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus At my wife's last job (doing thermal testing for atmospheric reentry vehicl es) some of the engineers actually took the time to model in 3D santa and h is sled, then took and subjected them to a computer model at something like Mach 6 and had a picture of the thermal contours. Turns out that Rudolph' s nose really would be red! Brian W. From: dashvii@hotmail.comTo: lightning-list@matronics.comSubject: Lightning -List: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. ClausDate: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:50:55 -0600 Santa Claus:An Engineers PerspectiveI. There are approximately two billion children (persons under 18) in the world. However, since Santa does not vis it children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist religions, this reduces th e workload for Christmas night to 15% of the total, or 378 million (accordi ng to the Population Reference Bureau). At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per house hold, that comes to 108 million homes, presuming that th ere is at least one good child in each. II. Santa has about 31 hours of Chr istmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This wo rks out to 967.7 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left f or him, get back up the chimney, jump into the sleigh and get on to the nex t house. Assuming that each of these 108 million stops is evenly distribute d around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false, but will accept for the purposes of our calculations), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household; a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting bathroom st ops or breaks. This means Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second --- 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second, and a conventional reindeer can run (at best) 15 miles per hour. II I. The payload of the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming tha t each child gets nothing more than a medium sized Lego set (two pounds), t he sleigh is carrying over 500 thousand tons, not counting Santa himself. O n land, a conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even gran ting that the "flying" reindeer could pull ten times the normal amount, the job can't be done with eight or even nine of them--- Santa would need 360, 000 of them. This increases the payload, not counting the weight of the sle igh, another 54,000 tons, or roughly seven times the weight of the Queen El izabeth (the ship, not the monarch). IV. 600,000 tons traveling at 650 mile s per second creates enormous air resistance --- this would heat up the rei ndeer in the same fashion as a spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmospher e. The lead pair of reindeer would absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short, they would burst into flames almost instantaneo usly, exposing the reindeer behind them and creating deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team would be vaporized within 4.26 thou sandths of a second, or right about the time Santa reached the fifth house on his trip. Not that it matters, however, since Santa, as a result of acce llerating from a dead stop to 650 m.p.s. in .001 seconds, would be subjecte d to centrifugal forces of 17,500 g's. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludic rously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force, instantly crushing his bones and organs and reducing him to a qui vering blob of pink goo. Therefore, if Santa did exist, he's dead now. Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. Share now! _________________________________________________________________ Get the power of Windows + Web with the new Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_powerofwindows_122007 ________________________________ Message 9 _____________________________________ Time: 11:18:39 AM PST US From: nick otterback Subject: RE: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 Colin, Since the canopy frame and instrument panel were priority the tips had not been worked on much, however they have been worked on a bit. The modeling has been done in soild works. After the firts of the year the first plugs will be cut and molds made, we still hope to have a set at sebring for show if not installed on the demo but at least the part to look at. Nick "Colin J. Kennedy" wrote: It is good to see the development continuing Nick and the build manual being updated. Looking forward to the pictures! Is there any news of progress on the extended wingtips? Colin K. OK -----Original Message----- From: owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of nick otterback Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 11:40 AM Subject: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 To All, Just sending a year end note to the group. All kits have been sold out for 2007, current delivery times are mid march. With that is mind we will be raising the price of the kit to $34,900, a 1,000 dollar increase. We hoped to not raise the price however we must for the new items which are standard on all kits for 2008. As promised at the lightning homecoming 2 items have been finished. The new instrument panel box is finished, the instrument panel no longer is flat to the edges but is installed in a formed box which will give a much more finished look and allow more panel room. Also the new canopy frame and outer skins have been finished. This will allow the builder to fine tune the gap between the frame and fuse and finish the contour of the frame to fuse perfectly. There no longer is a problem with the panel to canopy frame interference. We have eliminated the use of sixaflex to bond the canopy, although not a problem in anyway structrually, it did provide some flex in the frame. Now the canopy is bonded to the top flange of the frame only, than a skin is bonded to the bottom flange and on to the canopy creating a very ridged frame. The barrel latches have been eliminated and a new single overhead latch installed, which is also accesible to the out side. We hope the rise in the kit price does not lessen anyones interest in the Lightning, but that the new improvments to the aircraft will make it worth your while. Look for pictures after the first of the year for the improvments, these are currently installed in the prototype and are working well. Nick Otterback Arion Aircraft LLC --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and href="http://www.matronics.com/contribution">http://www.matronics.com/chref="http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Lightning-List">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Lightning-List href="http://forums.matronics.com">http://forums.matronics.com --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. ________________________________ Message 10 ____________________________________ Time: 11:26:55 AM PST US From: nick otterback Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 Well if we would see a little more productive work out of Lighting skunks works EAST than maybe we would be done by now! Howard Huges hooo From Whoo Ville N1BZRich@aol.com wrote: What? No mention of the Lightning retractable tail dragger, single seat model with the clipped wings, the 8 cylinder engine and the drag chute for landing? And how about the twin engine Lightning, and the four seat Lightning, and the vertical takeoff lightning, and the stealth Ligntning, and the amphibious Lightning that can be street driven. I know you have been busy with that customer from the North Pole, designing his new roof landing Lightning with the large fuel tanks and humongous baggage compartment, but not all of us needs that much baggage space. We just want that fully unlimited aerobatic, STOL, full IFR, 400 mph, 6 place model that still burns less than 6 gph. How is that one coming along? Merry Christmas to all, The Grinch --------------------------------- See AOL's top rated recipes and easy ways to stay in shape for winter. --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. ________________________________ Message 11 ____________________________________ Time: 11:37:21 AM PST US From: Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Santas FAA Visit Oh, You guys are killing me! That one was so funny I almost fell off the couch! ---- Amber Wilson wrote: > Santa Claus, like all pilots, gets regular visits from the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FAA examiner arrived last week for the pre-Christmas flight check. In preparation, Santa had the elves wash the sled and bathe all the reindeer. Santa got his logbook out and made sure all his paperwork was in order. He knew they would examine all his equipment and truly put Santa's flying skills to the test. > > The examiner walked slowly around the sled. He checked the reindeer harnesses, the landing gear, and even Rudolph's nose. He painstakingly reviewed Santa's weight and balance calculations for sled's enormous payload. > > Finally, they were ready for the check ride. Santa got in and fastened his seat belt and shoulder harness and checked the compass. Then the examiner hopped in carrying, to Santa's surprise, a shotgun. "What's that for!?" asked Santa incredulously. The examiner winked and said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this ahead of time," as he leaned over to whisper in Santa's ear, "but you're gonna lose an engine on takeoff." > > JP Instruments > Amber Wilson > FAA STC Administrator > > JPIAmber@yahoo.com > 800-945-4574 X204 > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: "scottarden@cox.net" > To: lightning-list@matronics.com > Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 8:57:00 AM > Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Night before Christmas > > > That's the BEST Christmas poem I ever heard!! > ---- N1BZRich@aol.com wrote: > > You probably have seen this before, but this one has some Lightning list > > specifics included: > > > > 'Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp, > > Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ. > > The aircraft were fastened to tiedowns with care, > > In hopes that come morning, they all would be there. > > The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots, > > With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots. > > I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up, > > And settled down comfortably, resting my butt. > > When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter, > > I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter. > > A voice clearly heard over static and snow, > > Called for clearance to land at the airport below. > > He barked his transmission so lively and quick, > > I'd have sworn that the call sign he used was "St. Nick"; > > I ran to the panel to turn up the lights, > > The better to welcome this magical flight. > > He called his position, no room for denial, > > "St. Nicholas One, turnin' left onto final." > > And what to my wondering eyes should appear, > > But an Arion-built sleigh, with eight cylinder Jabiru Reindeer! > > With vectors to final, down the glideslope he came, > > As he passed all fixes, he called them by name: > > "Now Lightning! Now Esqual! Now Pitts and Boeing! > > On Cessnat! On Bonanza!" What pills was he doing'? > > While controllers were sittin', and scratchin' their head, > > They phoned to my office, and I heard it with dread, > > The message they left was both urgent and dour: > > "When Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower." > > He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking, > > Then I heard "Left at Charlie," and "Taxi to parking." > > He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh > > And stopped on the ramp with a "Ho, ho-ho- ho..." > > He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk, > > I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks. > > His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost > > And his beard was all blackened from engine exhaust. > > His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale, > > And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn't inhale. > > His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly, > > His boots were as black as a crop duster's belly. > > He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red, > > And he asked me to "fill it, with hundred low- lead." > > He came dashing in from the snow-covered pump, > > I knew he was anxious for drainin' the sump. > > I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work, > > And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk. > > He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief, > > Then he picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief. > > And I thought as he silently scribed in his log, > > These reindeer could land in an eighth-mile fog. > > He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear, > > Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, "Clear!" > > And laying a finger on his push-to-talk, > > He called up the tower for clearance and squawk. > > "Take taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction, > > Turn right three-two-zero at pilot's discretion." > > He sped down the runway, the best of the best, > > "Your traffic's a Piper, inbound from the west." > > Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed through the night, > > "Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight." > > > > > > > > > > **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes > > (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) > > > > > Looking for last minute shopping deals? ________________________________ Message 12 ____________________________________ Time: 12:05:20 PM PST US From: Amber Wilson Subject: Re: Lightning-List: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus You are great with calculations. Now tell me, just about how many calories were consumed in the making of this story. JP Instruments Amber Wilson FAA STC Administrator JPIAmber@yahoo.com 800-945-4574 X204 ----- Original Message ---- From: Brian Whittingham Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 10:50:55 AM Subject: Lightning-List: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus Santa Claus:An Engineers Perspective I. There are approximately two billion children (persons under 18) in the world. However, since Santa does not visit children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist religions, this reduces the workload for Christmas night to 15% of the total, or 378 million (according to the Population Reference Bureau). At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per house hold, that comes to 108 million homes, presuming that there is at least one good child in each. II. Santa has about 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 967.7 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left for him, get back up the chimney, jump into the sleigh and get on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 108 million stops is evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false, but will accept for the purposes of our calculations), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household; a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting bathroom stops or breaks. This means Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second --- 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second, and a conventional reindeer can run (at best) 15 miles per hour. III. The payload of the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium sized Lego set (two pounds), the sleigh is carrying over 500 thousand tons, not counting Santa himself. On land, a conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that the "flying" reindeer could pull ten times the normal amount, the job can't be done with eight or even nine of them--- Santa would need 360,000 of them. This increases the payload, not counting the weight of the sleigh, another 54,000 tons, or roughly seven times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth (the ship, not the monarch). IV. 600,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance --- this would heat up the reindeer in the same fashion as a spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer would absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short, they would burst into flames almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them and creating deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team would be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second, or right about the time Santa reached the fifth house on his trip. Not that it matters, however, since Santa, as a result of accellerating from a dead stop to 650 m.p.s. in .001 seconds, would be subjected to centrifugal forces of 17,500 g's. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force, instantly crushing his bones and organs and reducing him to a quivering blob of pink goo. Therefore, if Santa did exist, he's dead now. Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. Share now! Looking for last minute shopping deals? ________________________________ Message 13 ____________________________________ Time: 12:19:23 PM PST US From: Brian Whittingham Subject: RE: Lightning-List: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus heh heh, Not too many actually, I plagerized it! It's on a website with jokes f or Engineers: http://engineeringedu.com/jokes.html Brian W. ightning-List: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. ClausTo: lightn ing-list@matronics.com You are great with calculations. Now tell me, just about how many calories were consumed in the making of this story. JP Instruments Amber Wilson FAA STC Administrator JPIAmber@yahoo.com 800-945-4574 X204 ----- Original Message ----From: Brian Whittingham To: lightning-list@matronics.comSent: Friday, December 21, 2007 10:50:55 AMSub ject: Lightning-List: An engineer's perspective of the alleged Mr. Claus Santa Claus:An Engineers PerspectiveI. There are approximately two billion children (persons under 18) in the world. However, since Santa does not vis it children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or Buddhist religions, this reduces th e workload for Christmas night to 15% of the total, or 378 million (accordi ng to the Population Reference Bureau). At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per house hold, that comes to 108 million homes, presuming that th ere is at least one good child in each. II. Santa has about 31 hours of Chr istmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This wo rks out to 967.7 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left f or him, get back up the chimney, jump into the sleigh and get on to the nex t house. Assuming that each of these 108 million stops is evenly distribute d around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false, but will accept for the purposes of our calculations), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household; a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting bathroom st ops or breaks. This means Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second --- 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second, and a conventional reindeer can run (at best) 15 miles per hour. II I. The payload of the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming tha t each child gets nothing more than a medium sized Lego set (two pounds), t he sleigh is carrying over 500 thousand tons, not counting Santa himself. O n land, a conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even gran ting that the "flying" reindeer could pull ten times the normal amount, the job can't be done with eight or even nine of them--- Santa would need 360, 000 of them. This increases the payload, not counting the weight of the sle igh, another 54,000 tons, or roughly seven times the weight of the Queen El izabeth (the ship, not the monarch). IV. 600,000 tons traveling at 650 mile s per second creates enormous air resistance --- this would heat up the rei ndeer in the same fashion as a spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmospher e. The lead pair of reindeer would absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short, they would burst into flames almost instantaneo usly, exposing the reindeer behind them and creating deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team would be vaporized within 4.26 thou sandths of a second, or right about the time Santa reached the fifth house on his trip. Not that it matters, however, since Santa, as a result of acce llerating from a dead stop to 650 m.p.s. in .001 seconds, would be subjecte d to centrifugal forces of 17,500 g's. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludic rously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force, instantly crushing his bones and organs and reducing him to a qui vering blob of pink goo. Therefore, if Santa did exist, he's dead now. Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. Share now! Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. _________________________________________________________________ Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_1220 07 ________________________________ Message 14 ____________________________________ Time: 12:21:10 PM PST US From: "Colin J. Kennedy" Subject: RE: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 Thanks for the update Nick. Seasons greetings to everyone at Arion and on the list. Colin K. OK -----Original Message----- From: owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of nick otterback Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:17 PM Subject: RE: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 Colin, Since the canopy frame and instrument panel were priority the tips had not been worked on much, however they have been worked on a bit. The modeling has been done in soild works. After the firts of the year the first plugs will be cut and molds made, we still hope to have a set at sebring for show if not installed on the demo but at least the part to look at. Nick "Colin J. Kennedy" wrote: It is good to see the development continuing Nick and the build manual being updated. Looking forward to the pictures! Is there any news of progress on the extended wingtips? Colin K. OK -----Original Message----- From: owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of nick otterback Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 11:40 AM Subject: Lightning-List: Lightning in 2008 To All, Just sending a year end note to the group. All kits have been sold out for 2007, current delivery times are mid march. With that is mind we will be raising the price of the kit to $34,900, a 1,000 dollar increase. We hoped to not raise the price however we must for the new items which are standard on all kits for 2008. As promised at the lightning homecoming 2 items have been finished. The new instrument panel box is finished, the instrument panel no longer is flat to the edges but is installed in a formed box which will give a much more finished look and allow more panel room. Also the new canopy frame and outer skins have been finished. This will allow the builder to fine tune the gap between the frame and fuse and finish the contour of the frame to fuse perfectly. There no longer is a problem with the panel to canopy frame interference. We have eliminated the use of sixaflex to bond the canopy, although not a problem in anyway structrually, it did provide some flex in the frame. Now the canopy is bonded to the top flange of the frame only, than a skin is bonded to the bottom flange and on to the canopy creating a very ridged frame. The barrel latches have been eliminated and a new single overhead latch installed, which is also accesible to the out side. We hope the rise in the kit price does not lessen anyones interest in the Lightning, but that the new improvments to the aircraft will make it worth your while. Look for pictures after the first of the year for the improvments, these are currently installed in the prototype and are working well. Nick Otterback Arion Aircraft LLC _____ Be a better friend, newshound, and ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message lightning-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Lightning-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/lightning-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/lightning-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.