| My 0.02. I transitioned from a C-172 to a Legacy about 4 years ago. I had enough sense to get some transition training and had enough sense to realize my limitations. I had an instructor go up and do some stall work with me. I initiated the stall. The plane stalled and I must have not had the ball centered. (maybe I did--read the NOTE BELOW for a possible scenario that could kill a few good fellows). If the ball is not centered, my experience was very little warning to the stall and/or spin--and when she stalled, she snapped violently into a spin (remember I transitioned from a 172 so I was a low time pilot--no advanced training and no military training). I immediately told the instructor: " you've got the controls."
He neutralized the aileron input and pushed forward to break out of the spin. Upon doing so, the bird subsequently snapped more violently into an opposite spin. My instructor was/is a very low-key, non panicking personality. Upon entry into the second spin in the opposite direction his only response during the second spin was: "OH SHIT!" From which he initiated standard recovery techniques and he got us out of the situation. I had no audible response, but let me tell you, my heart rate spiked like scared field mouse. Years later I asked one of the learnered pilots in the Lancair community how close we were to a very dire outcome (I'm keeping names out of this email other than my own). He said:" only thing I can say is, you were very close. Based upon Reynolds Numbers and theory, the Legacy will not come out of a spin after 2 or 3 turns." Those are his words not mine. I write these words with trepidation, because I do not want to cause problems for myself nor the people who helped me in my training. However, I do think that it is not advisable to make a blanket statement that everyone should do stall training. And my purpose it to help people make prudent decisions regarding their own training, and, hope that my comments inch our community towards better safety and many fruitful years of flying.
Years later In my case I have a partnership in a Russian Yak 18T. On my quest for a $200 breakfast on Saturday mornings I do spins, loops, rolls, cuban eights, immelmans...and more fun S&*T. I think I am a better pilot for getting aerobatic experience. If your not current in aerobatic work (or proficient) then I would not recommend doing stalls in the Legacy. I would recommend getting some spin training in a more docile aircraft. And then if you want to do some stall work, find someone in the Lancair community that would be willing to help you out. I love my Legacy, but I have no intention of stalling mine if I can help it.
NOTE BELOW If your are flying with a glass cockpit, and relying it for situation awareness, the turn coordinator has to be calibrated. If it is not calibrated then you might be skidding across the sky with "the ball centered", which might be OK in cruise, but it certainly is not OK in speeds close to a stall configuration.
Abe Gaskins
MGM Industries
Direct line 615-265-2046
Cell 615-642-2310 Skype Name: abe.gaskins
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."--Confucius
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education"--Mark Twain
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness"--Mark Twain
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 9:16 AM, Bill Bradburry <bbradburry@bellsouth.net> wrote:
No, I got it. I just don’t get
all this talk about Lancairs being deadly in a stall. It seems you are
trying to scare Lancair drivers into foregoing stall training. That, in
my opinion, will kill more people than learning to fly their planes. I understand
the reason for no spins and if you know how to recover your plane from an
incipient stall, there should never be a reason to recover from a spin.
But flying a plane that you are afraid to,
and have never, stalled is just plane dumb!
I
guess you didn't get my point...
On
Jan 2, 2013, at 6:16 PM, Bill Bradburry wrote:
Because nobody wants to die alone??
If you are not competent to practice
stalls solo in your Lancair, you probably shouldn’t be flying it solo.
aerodynamically,
I don't know what a Lancair has in common with a Zlin. One
thing it doesn't have is excess control authority. I'm all in favor of
stall recognition training but I wouldn't advocate everyone going out in their
Lancair's solo and doing it....
On
Jan 2, 2013, at 9:45 AM, Andres Katz wrote:
If
you never stall the airplane when it happens you won't be able to recognize
what is doing and how to react. Learning what your airplane does when it stalls
and recovering from it is essential to safe flight. In flying Acro we stall the
airplane multiple times, at low altitude and in front of ungrateful critical
sobs that will laugh at you when you screw up but will give you good tips about
recovering from it. Every airplane stalls differently, right wing drop, left
wing drop, bucking etc. learning what the airplane does pre stall is the most
important. My ZLIN 50 is so nice it begins to buckle and bitch at me and tells
me what I need to do (lower the stick) before it kills me. I advise you to get
a good instructor and go to 10,000 feet and spend the best 2 hrs of your life
stalling your airplane and getting to know her. It's
Ike
making love to your wife and knowing when she is happy.....
My
old savvy instructor when checking me out in single seat airplanes always told
me the same, go out to a safe altitude, stall the airplane, learn when it does
it look at the speed when it happens, add 10 knots and come and land, it has
never failed to get me down safely ie yak55, Jungmeister, ZLIN, chipmunk etc.
My
few cents worth of it. You will live longer.
Sent from my iPad
I have made the decision prior to
purchasing to avoid stalls altogether in my 360. After reading the stall
and stall spin accident information, I just don't think it's worth the
risk. On take-off, I stay in ground effect for the half second it takes
to make it into the green after wheels up; on landing, I approach well above
stall for my flap configuration, and let the speed bleed off only a few feet
above the threshold. During normal flight, I don't even get near a
typical slow flight speed. Too many variables in a home built airplane
with no precise envelope, a header tank that is PROBABLY where I think it
is, but could be off by 30 or 40 pounds if the gauge is stuck; possible extra
wait in the tail area (water retention after heavy rain).
From: Lancair Mailing List
[mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Ed
Gray
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013
9:43 PM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] stalls
Colyn,
As I said, AVOID STEEP TURNS IN THE PATTERN. If you are flying low under
the hood, I hope you have a well qualified safety pilot
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