Posted for "Peter Field" <
pfield.avn@gmail.com>:
Dear
Lancair Drivers:
I've been following the discussion on
stalls and spins and I want to add
some additional factual
information purely for your personal consumption
and
reflection. Attached are excerpts from 10 different
1980-90 NASA flight
test final reports on a series of GA airplanes in
which NASA evaluated the
use of cuffs on leading edges to improve the
behavior of the test airplane
approaching the stall. For
various reasons the cuffs improved lateral
control entering the
stall, but had the adverse effect of destabilizing the
aircraft once
a fully developed spin was achieved. Essentially,
stall
behavior was improved at the sacrifice of spin
recovery. Cuffs on wing
leading edges are an add on design
fix, the more elegant solution is
"washout," where the wing is
twisted so the outer portions of the wing
always operate at a lower
angle of attack.
To my knowledge, Lancair has never
subjected any of their aircraft to a
fully developed spin matrix
complete with appropriate instrumentation and a
spin recovery
chute. There is no FAA requirement for them to do so -
it's
an Experimental Category airplane. Early on they may
have lightly touched
on such testing; but I have never seen any
documentation on a fully
completed spin matrix, which would involve
at least 160 spins at various
cg's and lateral
loadings. In my opinion, it would be highly risky to
fool
around much beyond the stall in any Lancair - there is no
documentation that
indicates any of these airplanes can always be
recovered from a one turn
incipient phase spin or any fully developed
spin. Being good at spin
recovery isn't so much a matter
of how skillful a pilot you are, it's a
matter of how many spins
you've experienced in airplanes known to
be
recoverable. Being familiar with the stall
characteristics of your own
airplane should be a matter of personal
preference.
Best regards,
Pete Field
(LNC2)
USNTPS graduate & spin recovery
instructor
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