Return-Path: Sender: (Marvin Kaye) To: lml@lancaironline.net Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 13:38:40 -0400 Message-ID: X-Original-Return-Path: Received: from mail.hometel.com ([63.82.232.34] verified) by logan.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 4.2) with SMTP id 357786 for lml@lancaironline.net; Mon, 09 Aug 2004 10:15:30 -0400 Received-SPF: none receiver=logan.com; client-ip=63.82.232.34; envelope-from=marknlisa@hometel.com Received: (qmail 23948 invoked from network); 9 Aug 2004 14:14:58 -0000 Received: from mail.hometel.com (HELO Debug) (63.82.232.100) by mail.hometel.com with SMTP; 9 Aug 2004 14:14:58 -0000 X-Original-To: From: Subject: Re: Shannon's Accident X-Original-Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 14:14:58 GMT X-Posting-IP: 209.83.158.63 X-Mailer: Endymion MailMan Professional Edition v3.2.18 X-Original-Message-ID: I have to second another's post lamenting the sadness that this discussion occurs only following a tragedy. But I also feel compelled to offer a word of caution. All exhortations to explore/document your own plane's performance should be taken to heart. Practice, practice and more practice... However, speculation about what happened on *this particular accident* serves no useful purpose. I've already read one poster's opinion that "...based on what we know so far, he should have been able to get his plane down..." Suggestions that one should be prepared to sacrifice one's plane to save one's butt are well considered when taken in context, but let's not allow ourselves to infer that "Shannon could have saved himself if only he would have been willing to sacrifice his plane." Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't dissect an accident. I spent 20 years as a USAF flightcrew member. Following every flight (more that 1500 of them) we "critiqued" ourselves as a crew to determine where we could improve performance, safety, mission effectiveness, etc. Believe me, these critiques were merciless; leave your ego at the door please. But early on I learned that a critiqe of this type is useful *only* if based on fact, not speculation, feelings, reading tea leaves, whatever... If you believe YOUR plane should be able to glide a particular distance under specific circumstances then so be it. If you've flight tested your plane and you'd like to share your results, fine. But we need to remember our beliefs and test results of our own plane don't translate to any other's plane or situation. Let's not allow our beliefs coupled with feelings of pain, disappointment and frustration (very normal feelings) to paint any persons (alive or dead) in any particular light until all the FACTS are available. I suspect even then we'll all have more than enough to speculate about... Mark Sletten Legacy FG Factory assist week scheduled for Oct! --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Home Telephone Company's Web-Based Email interface. http://webmail.hometel.com