Fellow builders, I find that I must weigh in on Don Barnes' recent posting. I couldn't agree more.

It's not a question of whether recurrent training, or any training for that matter, is a good thing. Rather, it is a matter of whether we want fine pilot's, such as Ron, to share in a completely candid manner so that we all can learn.

Let me be very clear. Ron is an excellent pilot. He is not in need of additional training. Period. Lack of training had nothing to do with what happened. Nor did any deficiency in flying skill. In fact, even if he had just had a biennial review, do any of us honestly believe the question of AOA input source would have even been mentioned?

I will happily fly with Ron anytime, anywhere. He is an outstanding aviator. Take that to the bank. In fact, at our fly-in here in San Jose last Memorial Day, Ron made a presentation on flying the Legacy that undoubtedly contributes to the safe operation of this airplane. He may have prevented an accident due to his excellent, safety-oriented presentation.

I urge all of you to thoughtfully consider that Ron has been extremely gracious and open in sharing what happened. How many of the "experts" on list would have done likewise? Do not let this degenerate in a bunch of sniping attacks on Ron. This is not an appropriate response.

Frankly, I was wondering when someone just couldn't resist the urge to offer some flying advice to Ron. I'm surprised we went as long as we did.

The initial thread was very professional and quite helpful to all of us.  Lot's of good comments. We need this kind of discourse. Not the other.

I am absolutely positive there are a lot of LML "readers" who never contribute to this forum. It's with good reason. Simply put, they just don't want to engage in a juvenile discourse.

I commend all of those who made professional, polite, reasoned contributions to the thread about Ron's unfortunate accident. Let's keep it that way.

Sincerely,

Ron Jones
ron@legacy-innovations.com
www.legacy-innovations.com