Good post Andy,
When the 20 first came out we had a rash of accidents, like 20 or more
world-wide. Then things settled down and the carnage stopped. Why? I have an
opinion, lots of guys climbed out of the 301 libelle and bought the hot new
toy. Think about the differences; The 301 had automatic elevator hook-up, the
20 didn't. Hence, a bunch of us forgot to hook things up. The 301 flaps only
went down about 15 degrees, the 20 flaps went way down. Hence a bunch of
landing accidents. On the 301, the stick only moved the ailerons, whereas in
the 20, everything out there moved and therefore a bit of heavy-handed input
could get one in trouble a whole lot faster. The 301 was nimble and quick, try
to be nimble and quick in your 20, with the flaps down, and one could end up
with rocks in the cockpit.
Why didn't we just stick with the good old 301 libelle?
JJ Sinclair