X-Virus-Scanned: clean according to Sophos on Logan.com Return-Path: Received: from elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net ([209.86.89.64] verified) by logan.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 6.0.8) with ESMTP id 6743872 for lml@lancaironline.net; Fri, 21 Feb 2014 16:14:07 -0500 Received-SPF: none receiver=logan.com; client-ip=209.86.89.64; envelope-from=colyncase@earthlink.net DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=dk20050327; d=earthlink.net; b=TjozQePWkFHMqg6BjmlziFD8vJeuCJ1sAcIf/7LalCjh7/vfLuHXMO8l1BnU1rkp; h=Received:From:Mime-Version:Content-Type:Subject:Date:In-Reply-To:To:References:Message-Id:X-Mailer:X-ELNK-Trace:X-Originating-IP; Received: from [72.73.84.133] (helo=[192.168.1.24]) by elasmtp-curtail.atl.sa.earthlink.net with esmtpa (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1WGxPK-0001aU-8c for lml@lancaironline.net; Fri, 21 Feb 2014 16:13:20 -0500 From: Colyn Case Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1085) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=Apple-Mail-9-245653768 Subject: Re: [LML] Legacy Accident History Update Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 16:13:17 -0500 In-Reply-To: To: "Lancair Mailing List" References: Message-Id: X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1085) X-ELNK-Trace: 63d5d3452847f8b1d6dd28457998182d7e972de0d01da9409c2559d26c860e491c8edfe6e31bbd3e350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c X-Originating-IP: 72.73.84.133 --Apple-Mail-9-245653768 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 To be in the realm of insurable you would want less than 1 fatal across = all Lancairs per year. ...or 1 fatal per 100,000 hours. That gives = new meaning to "probably", in the sense of "that probably won't be a = problem"... On Feb 21, 2014, at 7:59 AM, Valin & Allyson Thorn wrote: We hope to have the first flight of our Legacy later this year and was = surprised so many underwriters were no longer insuring the Legacy. This = motivated me to relook at the accident record and update the summary = table I made and sent to the LML when looking at this five years ago. = See the updated table below. The accident record is disappointing and = this probably hasn=92t even captured all the accidents worldwide. If = anyone knows of any not shown here please let me know. =20 I found a total of 18 fatal accidents with 27 fatalities since the first = (non-fatal) accident in September 2003. So there is an average of = almost 2 fatal accidents per year since then. I estimate approximately = 150 flying Lancair Legacy airplanes (does anyone have a confirmed = number?). With that as a basis, and just counting the years since the = first accident, there=92s an annual probability of any particular Legacy = having a fatal accident of about 1 in 80.=20 =20 Much can be learned from looking at general aviation accident records = and statistics to make us safer/better pilots =96 but, looking at the = specific record of the airplane you=92re flying and/or building is most = sobering=85=20 =20 Here are some of my take-a-ways from the Legacy=92s accident history=85 =20 1. Get transition and regular refresher training from experienced = Legacy flight instructors =96 maintain proficiency. 2. Install and use an angle of attack sensor for all flight phases. 3. Install a canopy down and latched indicator =96 simple, two = micro-switches and a light. If the canopy does open in flight, ignore = the junk blowing around the cockpit, fly the airplane, get some good = altitude, and workout the most stable speed to fly it back to landing. = Install canopy opening/closing mod that doesn=92t allow the canopy to go = all the way down unless latched (see Don Barnes=92 website, builder = tips) 4. Practice, practice, practice engine out failures and glides to = emergency landings. 5. Care for and maintain your engine like your life depends on it =96= since it does. =20 It=92s beyond sad that so many of our pilot brothers have lost their = lives flying the Legacy. This accident history illustrates clearly = higher risk compared to the typical personal airplane. But from the = reports of veteran Legacy flyers, I hold on to the belief that the = Legacy is an amazing, fast, and beautiful airplane that just demands = some unique handling and discipline beyond the typical personal airplane = to fly it safely...=20 =20 Valin Thorn Legacy Project Boulder, Colorado =20 =20 =20 Lancair Legacy Accident & Incident Record =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 February 2014 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 Accident Number Summary Description Event Location Make / Model Regist. Fatalities Total Deaths to Date Date Number 34 Stall just after takeoff 10/25/2013 Shepparton, Australia Lancair Legacy =20 VH-ICZ 2 27 33 Stall just after takeoff 9/18/2013 Geraldton, Australia Lancair Legacy =20 VH-ALP 1 25 32 IMC loss of fuel pressure then smoke in cockpit, crashed 4 miles short = of airport 3/31/2013 Winston-Salem, NC Lancair Legacy =20 =20 2 24 31 Lost control on landing, broke in three pieces 5/1/2012 Animas Airpark,=20 Durango, CO Campbell Lancair Legacy N12KX 0 22 30 Training flight, crashed into terrain, cause unknown 3/10/2012 Sao Paulo Brazil Lancair Legacy =20 PT-ZZR 2 22 29 Collision with power lines 25 ft high, 1.2 miles from departure runway = in night VMC. 3/1/2012 Belen, NM Hemp Lancair Legacy N273TE =20 2 20 28 Bounced landing, ran off runway, substantial damage 10/5/2011 KPLK, Bransom, MO Evans Lancair Legacy N92SX 0 18 27 Impacted snow covered mountain at 6500 ft MSL in VMC under unknown = circumstances, 78 yr old pilot 5/18/2011 Pioneer, CA Cameron Lancair Legacy N121J 1 18 26 Unnecessary forced landing, crashed 3 miles short of runway. Ran left = tank dry but right tank full of fuel, selector found in wreckage set for = left tank. 5/6/2011 Richlands, NC Peter Hebert Lancair Legacy N23PH 2 17 25 Early morning night landing at Kansas City Int'l, landed in grass = between taxi ways and struck airport sign, substantial damage 5/2/2011 Kanasa City, MO Prichard Lancair Legacy N50KP 0 15 24 Nose gear collapse on landing, minor damage 2/6/2011 San Jose Airport, CA Bereznak Lancair Legacy N817CB 0 15 23 Deice sys failure, ice on aircraft, left wing dipped abruptly on = landing, gear collapsed, substantial damage 12/25/2010 Oakland/Troy Airport, MI Bowers Harbor Legacy N384AS 0 15 22 Engine failure, forced landing, pax injured 9/12/2010 Okahandja, Namibia Onderstall Lancair Legacy ZU-FCY 0 15 21 Take off in squall conditions with 20 kt crosswind gusting to 32 kts, = substantial damage 6/25/2010 Burns, OR Meyer Lancair Legacy N29MM 0 15 20 Engine failure from oil starvation, stall crash on forced landing 11/21/2009 Watsonville, CA Budd Lancair Legacy N7JX 1 15 19 Pilot reports very difficult aircraft pitch control from open canopy on = takeoff, crash landed short of runway returning to land 2/6/2009 Longmont, CO Lancair Legacy =20 N939CB 0 14 18 Ran off end of runway on hot/fast landing, runway 5841 ft long 11/2/2008 =20 Socorro, NM =20 Hemp Lancair Legacy N273TE =20 0 14 17 Takeoff without canopy latched. Pilot likely impaired by pain med's and = obstructive sleep apnea. 10/18/2008 =20 Parowan, UT =20 Heisler Lancair Legacy =20 N151HT =20 1 14 16 Stall at low altitude on final at Oshkosh AirVenture 7/31/2008 =20 OSHKOSH, WI Moser Lancair Legacy FG N515RB =20 2 13 15 Engine mechanical failure, forced landing short of runway, sheared off = main wheels, failed connecting rod not from engine OEM 6/8/2008 =20 Bend, OR =20 Lancair Prototype Legacy 2000 =20 N199L =20 0 11 14 Fuel exhaustion during touch and go practice, stall/spin at low altitude = on aggressive turn toward runway 5/30/2008 =20 Murrieta, CA =20 Poulin L/Cullen D Lancair Legacy FG N109DC =20 2 11 13 Stall, crash on takeoff. Distracted, challenged by open canopy on take = off 4/13/2008 =20 Lakeland, FL =20 Dayon Thomas Lancair Legacy =20 N1177M =20 1 9 12 Smoke in cockpit, possible fire onboard, forced landing in rocky terrain 4/1/2008 Krugersdorp Game Reserve, South Africa Lancair Legacy =20 ZU-EFC 1 8 11 Aircraft veered off course after missed ILS approach crashing on road = 4500 ft from approach end of runway 2/16/2008 Portland, OR Legacy FG =20 1 7 10 Engine failure on first flight, possible cause mixture control = attachment loose 4/14/2007 =20 Fulton, NY =20 Romeo Lancair Legacy RG =20 N45FR =20 2 6 9 Take off with canopy unlatched, lost control, severe crash and injuries 8/26/2005 Ems, Austria Hohenemser Lancair Legacy N345MW 0 4 8 Stall spin, factory Legacy FG 8/15/2005 =20 Madras, OR =20 Lancair Legacy FG Prototype N359L =20 2 4 7 Fuel exhaustion, forced landing, mis-calibrated fuel sensors 8/14/2005 =20 Groveland, CA =20 Barnes Lancair Legacy =20 N508DB =20 0 2 6 Engine failure, cause unknown, forced landing in rocky field, landing = gear separated, post-crash fire destroyed airplane 5/1/2005 =20 Nacogdoches, TX =20 Lancair Legacy =20 N204RH =20 0 2 5 Gear not extended for landing 4/8/2005 =20 Bend, OR =20 Shannon Lancair Legacy N115YP =20 0 2 4 Wing skin on upper left stub wing separated in flight, landed safely, = examination showed poor bond 9/12/2004 Cambridge, OH Lancair Legacy =20 =20 0 2 3 Engine failure with continuous warning signs months before total = failure. Super-charged engine. Engine tear down showed one piston = burned through and other heat damage. Landing options overflown. = Crashed in city. 8/1/2004 =20 Madison, WI =20 Knoepflein Lancair Legacy N98SN =20 1 2 2 Flew into Level 4 & 5 thunderstorms with ATC assistance 4/23/2004 =20 Oakland, TN =20 Durr Lancair Legacy =20 N511WD =20 1 1 1 Takeoff with pitot covered, takeoff aborted, ran off end of 2600 = ftrunway, substantial damage 9/19/2003 =20 Kimberling City, MO =20 Brice Lancair Legacy =20 N27RM =20 0 0 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 --Apple-Mail-9-245653768 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 To be in the realm of insurable you would want less = than 1 fatal across all Lancairs per year.   ...or 1 fatal per = 100,000 hours.   That gives new meaning to "probably", in the sense = of "that probably won't be a = problem"...


On Feb 21, 2014, at 7:59 = AM, Valin & Allyson Thorn wrote:

We hope to have the = first flight of our Legacy later this year and was surprised so many = underwriters were no longer insuring the Legacy.  This motivated me to = relook at the accident record and update the summary table I made and = sent to the LML when looking at this five years ago.  See the updated = table below.   The accident record = is disappointing and this probably hasn=92t even captured all the = accidents worldwide.  If anyone knows of = any not shown here please let me know.
I found a total of 18 fatal accidents with 27 fatalities since = the first (non-fatal) accident in September 2003.  So there is an = average of almost 2 fatal accidents per year since = then.  I estimate = approximately 150 flying Lancair Legacy airplanes (does anyone have a = confirmed number?).  With that as a = basis, and just counting the years since the first accident, there=92s = an annual probability of any particular Legacy having a fatal accident = of about 1 in 80. 
Much can be learned from looking at general aviation accident = records and statistics to make us safer/better pilots =96 but, looking = at the specific record of the airplane you=92re flying and/or building = is most sobering=85 
Here are some of my take-a-ways from the Legacy=92s accident = history=85
 
1. Get transition and regular refresher training = from experienced Legacy flight instructors =96 maintain = proficiency.
2. Install and use an angle of attack sensor for = all flight phases.
3. Install a canopy down and latched indicator =96= simple, two micro-switches and a light.  If the canopy does = open in flight, ignore the junk blowing around the cockpit, fly the = airplane, get some good altitude, and workout the most stable speed to = fly it back to landing.  Install canopy = opening/closing mod that doesn=92t allow the canopy to go all the way = down unless latched (see Don Barnes=92 website, builder = tips)
4. Practice, practice, practice engine out = failures and glides to emergency landings.
      Care for and maintain your engine like your = life depends on it =96 since it does.
It=92s beyond sad that so many of our pilot brothers have lost = their lives flying the Legacy.  This accident = history illustrates clearly higher risk compared to the typical personal = airplane.  But from the reports = of veteran Legacy flyers, I hold on to the belief that the Legacy is an = amazing, fast, and beautiful airplane that just demands some unique = handling and discipline beyond the typical personal airplane to fly it = safely... 
Valin Thorn
Legacy Project
Boulder, = Colorado
 
 
Number
Lancair Legacy Accident & = Incident Record
 
 
 
 
February = 2014
Accident = Number
Summary = Description
Event
Make / = Model
Regist.
Total Deaths to = Date
Stall just after = takeoff
Shepparton, Australia
33
Stall just after takeoff
Geraldton, Australia
32
IMC loss of fuel pressure then smoke in cockpit, crashed 4 = miles short of airport
31
Lost control on landing, broke in three = pieces
 
Durango, = CO
30
Training flight, crashed into terrain, cause = unknown
29
Collision with power lines 25 ft high, 1.2 miles from = departure runway in night VMC.
28
Bounced landing, ran off runway, substantial = damage
 Bransom, MO
Evans Lancair = Legacy
27
Impacted snow covered mountain at 6500 ft MSL in VMC under unknown = circumstances, 78 yr old = pilot
26
Unnecessary forced landing, crashed 3 miles short of = runway.  Ran left tank dry = but right tank full of fuel, selector found in wreckage set for left = tank.
Richlands, NC
N23PH
2
17
Early morning = night landing at Kansas City Int'l, landed in grass between taxi ways = and struck airport sign, substantial = damage
Kanasa City, = MO
24
Nose gear collapse on landing, minor = damage
Bereznak Lancair = Legacy
23
Deice sys failure, ice on aircraft, left wing dipped abruptly = on landing, gear collapsed, substantial = damage
22
Engine failure, forced landing, pax injured
Okahandja, Namibia
Onderstall Lancair = Legacy
21
Take off in squall conditions with 20 kt crosswind gusting to = 32 kts, substantial = damage
20
Engine failure from oil starvation, stall crash on forced = landing
19
Pilot reports very difficult aircraft pitch control from open = canopy on takeoff, crash landed short of runway returning to = land
18
Ran off end of runway on hot/fast landing, runway 5841 ft long
<= /td>
11/2/2008 =  
17
Takeoff without canopy latched.  Pilot likely = impaired by pain med's and obstructive sleep = apnea.
Heisler Lancair = Legacy  
16
Stall at low altitude on final at Oshkosh AirVenture
7/31/2008 =  
15
Engine mechanical failure, forced landing short of runway, = sheared off main wheels, failed connecting rod not from engine = OEM
N199L =  
14
Fuel exhaustion during touch and go practice, stall/spin at = low altitude on aggressive turn toward = runway
Poulin L/Cullen D = Lancair Legacy  FG
13
Stall, crash on takeoff.  Distracted, = challenged by open canopy on take off
4/13/2008 =  
Dayon Thomas Lancair = Legacy  
12
Smoke in cockpit, possible fire onboard, forced landing in = rocky terrain
Lancair Legacy =  
11
Aircraft veered off course after missed ILS approach crashing = on road 4500 ft from approach end of = runway
10
Engine failure on first flight, possible cause mixture control = attachment loose
N45FR =  
9
Take off with canopy unlatched, lost control, severe crash and = injuries
Hohenemser Lancair = Legacy
8
Stall spin, factory Legacy FG
8/15/2005 =  
N359L =  
7
Fuel exhaustion, forced landing, mis-calibrated fuel = sensors
N508DB =  
6
Engine failure, cause unknown, forced landing in rocky field, = landing gear separated, post-crash fire destroyed = airplane
5
Gear not extended for landing
4/8/2005 =  
4
Wing skin on upper left stub wing separated in flight, landed = safely, examination showed poor bond
3
Engine failure with continuous warning signs months before = total failure.  Super-charged = engine.  Engine tear down = showed one piston burned through and other heat damage.  Landing options = overflown. Crashed in city.
Knoepflein Lancair = Legacy
2
Flew into Level 4 & 5 thunderstorms with ATC = assistance
Durr Lancair Legacy =  
1
Takeoff with pitot covered, takeoff aborted, ran off end of = 2600 ftrunway, substantial = damage
Brice Lancair Legacy =