|
Lynn,
If Lance himself advocates routinely
exceeding limitations on the planes he sold, I wonder why he established
those numbers in the first place. The hard truth is that there
is a speed at which any airplane will come apart. How did
you determine what that number is for your plane? In the absence of a
definitive, demonstrated number for whichever model of Lancair we fly
(which is impossible because they're all built differently), how can you or I or
anyone else know that figure short of going out and killing
ourselves? The prudent practice is to observe the limits set by the
manufacturer.
My comments come from my 20,000 hours
experience as a Naval Aviator and a Captain for a major airline. In both
of those careers, Vne (as well as Mmo - max mach number) is a hard
and fast limitation. Those numbers are there for a reason and exceeding
them requires a thorough airframe inspection. My experience tells me that
ignoring them is not wise nor a safe thing to do. If you think it's
safe, no one can stop you from doing it. The reason I chimed in on this
thread is that there have been far too many avoidable fatal accidents
in Lancairs that have been attributed to pilots doing hazardous things with
their planes. It hurts me personally every time I hear of one of
them. I'd rather throw in my 2 cents worth now and take hits like this for
expressing my views than put out an "I told you so" if someone goes out and rips
their wings off because a few guys on the LML say they ignore Vne regularly with
no problems.
Finally, my comment about giving
pilots who brag about exceeding limits a wide berth is also from my own
experience. I've known several pilots in my 37+ years of flying who
have done this. Many of them are dead. If I can make a single pilot
think twice before exceeding a published limitation, it's worth
the hits I take for doing it.
If one exceeds this limitation,
what's the next one they ignore? It's a bad practice and one I strongly
discourage.
Skip Slater
P.S. If you can get Lance, Pete or Joe to go
on record that there's nothing wrong with ignoring Vne, I'd like to see
it.
|