Rob Wolf said:

Where Bill is wrong is where he states --

<<that jet is more than twice as fast as = this=20 Baron, much more reliable, safer, quieter, easier to maintain, easier to = fly,=20 better instrumented and burns less fuel, but it=92s not=20 certified,>>

It may be faster, quieter and more efficient, but it will not = be=20 safer.

This characteristic of the certification process dominates = virtually=20 every element of certified airplane design. Not even the most anal = homebuilder -- and believe me, the Lancair ranks have many of these = folks,=20 including myself at times -- builds their airplanes to that standard = across the=20 board.

Rob, I kinda agree with your comments. I am the President of = Systems=20 3. We make over 5000 aerospace parts every week for Boeing's F18, = Apache,=20 etc. From this background I see three things that make the = "safety" issue=20 less than straight forward. One, for the certified aircraft, the = initial=20 design phase is very controlled and thoroughly tested. This is = where some=20 of the kit aircraft industry is lacking. Two, after certification, = design=20 improvements are not implemented due to a lack of trust between the = government=20 and the private sector. This usually plays out as "to = costly to fix".=20 This can even be flight safety features. The kit industry wins big = here. =20 Third, is the issue of build quality. This is not design=20 quality. This gets complicated. The certified industry is of = great=20 concern that your process certifications are in order. In twenty = years,=20 only a hand full of times has a government inspector wanted to see the=20 dimensional characteristics of the parts we build. We have a government=20 inspector in here twice a week looking at "flight critical" parts. If = the paper=20 work is good, the parts are good. If we were not honorable, we could be = selling=20 junk. Then the parts go to Boeing for assembly. The guy on = the=20 line is having a bad day and the assembly is junk. After 15 years = as a=20 product engineer at General Motors, let me give this advise...Don't buy = a car=20 built during the Christmas Holidays, the assembly is likely to be = junk. In=20 the kit industry, this is builder specific. I have great confidence that = my IV-P=20 will be assembled with greater overall quality than your typical=20 certified aircraft. I have more at stake than the guy on the = line.

So to boil it down, I believe that if the kit plane is well = designed, then=20 it will generally be safer than a certified aircraft. This does = not mean=20 the pilot will fly it more safely.

Craig Berland