Message-ID: <001901bf3981$e60c6680$ce6b1b3f@oemcomputer>
Reply-To: "dfs" <dfs@gateway.net>
From: "dfs" <dfs@gateway.net>
To: "Lancair List" <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Subject: Static Water
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 01:20:32 -0800
Mime-Version: 1.0

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Well, son-of-a-gun! Welcome to the club, Brent!

I know what you were thinking when the static-related instruments started to
go nuts. Happened to me last year when, on a trip from LA to Santa Rosa to
visit my brother, the wife and I encountered an unforecast wall of water
just North of Buchanan Field at Concord, CA. Being a confirmed chicken in
such sircumstances, I immediately put N2335SP down right there. turns out
that the storms lasted so long and was so intense that we had to rent a car
to get back to LA two days later (I was still a working person then).

I couldn't get back to pick up the airplane for over a week, during which
time, it sat out in some of the worst rain storms in quite a while. Even
with a canopy cover in place, the inside was WET. Fortunately, I had had the
presence of mind to pull the radios and take them with me - but that didn't
stop the water from being driven into the static system - I have the same
type of static ports, i.e., one on both sides T'd to the static line.

Nothing was apparently amiss on the ground and I had checked for water -
plus the fact that I thought the canopy cover had sheltered the ports -
NOT!! Immediately after getting airborne, I had the same sort of indications
you experienced. It does get your attention! Again fortunately, I had done a
bit of practice flying without the static related instrumentation during a
"just in case" practice not 3 - 4 months before - so I had a fairly
reasonable idea of how to handle the problem. Still not something I'd want
to do for fun - it is intense!

The reason I'm chiming in on this is to suggest that knowing how to get your
Lancair (or any airplane, for that matter) on the ground safely without the
static stuff  - however you might do that - is one big insurance policy,
Think about it folks, we all rely on airspeed, altitude and vertical speed,
particularly in airplanes with the characteristics of our Lancairs, during
the landing phase. How would you handle things without them? Try it, but
don't wait till you HAVE to.

Cheers,

Dan Schaefer

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