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Jim,
Ron Galbraith and I were discusing
this exact topic just yesterday. These planes are now
virtually uninsurable and are often being flown by pilots that don't fully
understand the demands of such a high perfomance airplane. The IV's have
shown a proclivity to spin (and not recover) that's significant and
certainly worthy of Lancair's full attention.
Whether all of these IV accidents have
been due to pilot error, structural failure, engine problems or something else,
I think the time has come for Lancair to end their deafening silence on the
issue and try to get a full understanding of what's behind all the accidents and
see if there's a common thread that can be addressed. It may be little
more than a required training program or a re-examination of the airplane's
approved flight envelope or CG range.
One big problem I've seen is builders
abitrarily significantly raising gross weights for their planes above the
factory recommendation. Who knows what arbitrary CG excursions are being
made. I've heard no warnings from Lancair on this practice and I
think it's time that the issue was addressed by the kit's manufacturer to
stress the limits to which the airframe was tested.
If built and flown
properly within design limits, I believe the IV's can
be safe planes to fly.
Skip Slater
N540ES
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