Posted for "Chatfield S. Daniel" <CDaniel@FNBSouth.com>:

The amount of rationalization that goes on on this list is unbelievable.
Some think that a plane like the IV is a death trap and should be banned
from flight.  Some think that it is a perfect plane with no bad habits,
and no matter that it was a Delta captain flying it into the ground, it
was just another case of pilot error.  I suspect that the truth is
someware in the middle.  The IV is a fast, high performace airplane, and
as such is more dangerous and unforgiving than a C172.  A few years ago, I was on the RV list while building my RV-8.  The RV-8
prototype lost a WING...that's a +9G and -4.5G wing,...on a demo flight.
Well the list just went crazy for several months.  Just like this list,
some said the plane should be withdrawn and tested and that it was
design error.  The rest said this plane was perfect and the only thing
that could possible cause the accident was serious pilot error.  There
was so much talk that Van's tested another wing to destruction and sure
enough, the wing was OK.

I guess my point here is anytime there is a tragedy like this, it brings
out the differences in our prospectives.  Sometimes, the best trained
pilots is the world will auger one in.  There is an inherent danger in
flying that you can't avoid, and if you can't accept that, you are not
being honest with yourself.

Chat Daniel
RV-8 678RV
Super ES 891AC (reserved)