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I'm surprised and a bit worried that the FAA is thinking about direct action. My understanding was that Experimentals are not evaluated for flight characteristics- given the freedom to build anything that you think is a good idea plus the variation in builder skills and "customizing" I don't see how they could. Getting into that area would open up a can of worms and effectively kill the Experimental category. Type Certificated aircraft are a different story of course, with everything extensively tested and then cast in stone. My understanding was that market forces are relied on, especially insurance companies. Of course if a plane develops a reputation for killing its pilots there's a damping effect on sales as well.
There was a time 10-15 years ago when Velocities experienced a number of expensive claims. In at least one case the builder excercised his first option on salvage, rebuilt the plane then promptly crashed it again, each time probably making a large profit. The insurance companies were not happy and there was a period when Velocities were uninsurable. Perhaps coincidentally, Avemco stopped writing policies for Experimentals though they had a deal with EAA. Tom P. was still endorsing them for quite a while after- I decided at that point he was no friend of mine.
As I recall the factory was eventually able to come up with a program combining initial inspections by a factory rep (either an employee or a designated builder) combined with type-specific training. I believe recurrent training was also required. This was accomplished within the private sector with no regulation from the FAA. I don't know what the safety record has been once the program was put into place.
-Bill Wade
----- Original Message ----- From: <marv@lancair.net>
To: "lml"
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:01 AM
Subject: [LML] Re: FAA and Lancair Accidents
Posted for larry.eversmeyer@faa.gov:
Dan, I'm also building a Legacy RG. Just last week I got a call from an
individual from FAA headquarter in Washington DC and he advised me that
the FAA has put together a group to address the high rate of Lancair
accidents. He was told that I was familiar with the Lancair and wanted
some input or suggestion on how this trend can be reversed. I have talk
to several fellow lascars folks including Joe Bartel. If you have any
suggestion please let me know. I'm trying to write up my comments and
have them done and sent to DC buy the first of next week.
Thanks
N72LE still building
Larry Eversmeyer
office 405.954.6775
cell 405.209.3081
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