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I just got back to St. Louis area yesterday from a Lancair trip to Sand
Point, Idaho and return.  I had a problem which would have been much easier
to resolve if I had followed the advice of another Lancair owner that I met
at the 1996 Oshkosh convention.  (I am sorry, his name has slipped my mind).
"Always carry a spare inner tube" when you are flying cross-country in a
Lancair 2-place" was the  advice.

Luckily, my flat tire occurred prior to take-off and I was able to remove
the wheel, take in to town and have the tube patched at a filling station.
This was in Hot Springs, SD where a couple of very kind gentlemen assisted
me in about 4 cycles of  temporarily inflating the tire, taxing a ways until
I finally got to the terminal building area.  They then helped me jack up
the plane with an automotive jack, remove the wheel and take it in to town.
The patched tube held up for the rest of the trip to Sandpoint and return.
Although, I did call Vern and have a spare tube shipped to where I was
staying in Idaho.

In summary, from now on I will carry a spare tube and suggest you other LNC2
flyers do the same, especially if your tubes are older than a couple of
years.  One thing that may have contributed to the tube failure is that
because there was no taxi ways at Hot Springs, I had to taxi to the end of
the runway and make a sharp turn to head in the take-off direction.  This
was on a very course asphalt surface.  The twisting force on the inside tire
may have stressed the inner tube against the tire sidewall and ripped it.
Another thing I learned:  make your taxi turns as wide as possible.

Happy flying and building,
Bob Jude    N65BJ

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