Arion Lightning Explained

The Arion Lightning is a light-sport aircraft available as a kit aircraft or as a production Special LSA.[1]

Design and development

The Lightning was developed by designers Pete Krotje, Ben Krotje and Nick Otterback.[2]

Originally designed as a high speed, low wing composite aircraft for the Jabiru series of engines, the LS-1 was redesigned to meet American light-sport requirements by extending the wings to lower the stall speed and using a fixed pitch propeller.

The aircraft is made from composites. In the homebuilt kit version its 30.51NaN1 span wing has an area of 91square feet and mounts flaps. The aircraft's recommended engine power is 1200NaN0 and the standard engine used is the 1200NaN0 Jabiru 3300 four-stroke powerplant. Construction time from the supplied kit is 600 hours.[3]

Operational history

In 2007 Earl Ferguson set a record for the quickest time for a flight from Savannah to San Diego in a piston engine land plane weighing between 1,102 and 2,205 pounds using this aircraft.

Variants

Arion Lightning EXP
  • US Experimental amateur-built category aircraft
    Arion Lightning XS
  • Variant of Lightning EXP supporting up to 160 hp engines, including the Lycoming O-320 and ULPower 390iS.[4]
    Arion Lightning LS-1
  • Light-sport aircraft variant with a choice of engines: the 1200NaN0 Jabiru 3300, the 1500NaN0 Lycoming O-320 or the 2100NaN0 Lycoming IO-390.[5]

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Arion Lightning LS-1. 1 August 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20170202020053/http://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/aviation-communities-and-interests/light-sport-aircraft/getting-started-in-light-sport-aircraft-flying/light-sport-aircraft-folder/arion_lightning_ls-1. 2 February 2017. dead.
    2. Plane & Pilot. 9 February 2010.
    3. Vandermeullen, Richard: 2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide, Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 43. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851
    4. Web site: Lightning XS Kit. Arion Aircraft LLC.
    5. Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16, page 28. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

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