Questair Venture vs DarkAero 1?

[MountainDude]

I am curious what this crowd thinks of these two planes?
- Why has the Venture not been more successful? Its performance is simply incredible, yet only 60 have been built in the last 35 years.
- The only advantage of DarkAero 1 I can see in the specs is a longer range, but how many people will want to sit in the plane 7-8 hours regularly? Seems like a total edge case.
- I cant imagine there is a sizeable market for darkaero 1 if there isn't one for the Venture.
Thoughts?

 

[nauga]

@Grum.Man

I'd hazard a guess that there will be a considerable difference in build time between the two, assuming you could get a kit for either.
Performance comparisons are meaningless until DarkAero actually generates some flight test data.

Nauga,
and some wishful thinking

 

[hindsight2020]

hen's tooth vs vaporware.. *shrugs* coin flip?

 

[aftCG]

One of them actually exists and has known performance numbers.

 

[tsts4]

The Egg wasn’t more successful despite its incredible performance because it was expensive and had a relatively low useful load. As a result, it was/is in a very small market niche.

 

[kyleb]

The Egg wasn’t more successful despite its incredible performance because it was expensive and had a relatively low useful load. As a result, it was/is in a very small market niche.

That, and the landing gear problems that went unsolved for years probably killed whatever momentum might have developed.

 

[Grum.Man]

There were lots of reasons the Venture didn't explode in popularity.
1. Looks sell and lots of people can't get past it's looks or have a notion that it will be terrible to fly or be uncomfortable just because it looks so different. Non of that is true though, compared to the competition it is the most comfortable and probably the most stable in flight.

2. They sold the kits too cheap. In 1986 they were selling kits with an engine and a constant speed propeller for like 65k. The kit has a lot of one off custom components and the propeller was assembled specifically for the Venture. Some of the skins were special ordered so the wing could be wrapped by a single sheet without need for a seam.

3. They were unbelievably complex to build. Flush rivets, no blind rivets, everything built off jigs. The skins were formed by stretching them over a die but had to be trimmed to fit and messaged a little to line up.

4. Yes the crash of one of the factory demonstrators probably didn't help. The first comment I usually hear from people who have never seen one is "that thing must be squirrely on the ground". The answer to that is no, it's different but very forgiving. That said, if mine had the original steering and breaking setup I could certainly see how I could have gotten in trouble a few times during my transition training. Only one or two exist with the as designed system.

They have plenty of useful load. The factory lightly built planes had 780 lbs I think. Most obviously end up 50-100 lbs heavier. The factory set the maximum weight at 2000 lbs but that was pretty conservative so most builders set theirs for 2200 lbs. Mine is crazy heavy yet can still haul around 423lbs after filling the tanks. If I did have a complaint its that 52 gallons is a little small for a fuel load.

 

[MountainDude]

There were lots of reasons the Venture didn't explode in popularity.
1. Looks sell and lots of people can't get past it's looks or have a notion that it will be terrible to fly or be uncomfortable just because it looks so different. Non of that is true though, compared to the competition it is the most comfortable and probably the most stable in flight.

2. They sold the kits too cheap. In 1986 they were selling kits with an engine and a constant speed propeller for like 65k. The kit has a lot of one off custom components and the propeller was assembled specifically for the Venture. Some of the skins were special ordered so the wing could be wrapped by a single sheet without need for a seam.

3. They were unbelievably complex to build. Flush rivets, no blind rivets, everything built off jigs. The skins were formed by stretching them over a die but had to be trimmed to fit and messaged a little to line up.

4. Yes the crash of one of the factory demonstrators probably didn't help. The first comment I usually hear from people who have never seen one is "that thing must be squirrely on the ground". The answer to that is no, it's different but very forgiving. That said, if mine had the original steering and breaking setup I could certainly see how I could have gotten in trouble a few times during my transition training. Only one or two exist with the as designed system.

They have plenty of useful load. The factory lightly built planes had 780 lbs I think. Most obviously end up 50-100 lbs heavier. The factory set the maximum weight at 2000 lbs but that was pretty conservative so most builders set theirs for 2200 lbs. Mine is crazy heavy yet can still haul around 423lbs after filling the tanks. If I did have a complaint its that 52 gallons is a little small for a fuel load.

Thanks for the info. I am blown away by the egg's performance. I find its shape beautiful, but I guess not everyone does.
So I think you answered my main question; DarkAero is hoping to make a plane that will be very easy to assemble, which will be much easier than the egg.