Lancair IV-P lost near Lansing MI

Lancairs are cool planes, it's too bad this happened. I'm sure your right on
the insurance deal. Not that it matters but I'm surprised Lancair didn't
certify the new 350 and 400 with the parachute like Cirrus just for
insurance purposes.

As far as the fuel exhaustion deal, the articles did mention that witnesses
said the engine wasn't running at times and lack of fire in the photos so it
seems.

Can't do it. Not enough useful load. IN the Legacy with full fuel
and a 220 pound PIC, he can only get in his girlfriend and no baggage
right now. There's really no wieight left for an onboard oxygen
system, let alone a parachute.

BWB

On Thu, 3 Jun 2004 08:21:07 -0700, "Kathryn & Stuart Fields"
wrote:

Rolf: I once opened my parachute in free fall while I was spinning so fast
the ground was a blur. The chute opened with the lines twisted together all
the way to the lower lateral band of the canopy. I almost got sick
unwinding, then overshooting, then unwinding again but the chute did open as
much as it could with the lines wound up and it did unwind coming down.
Stu Fields

Stu:

What were you flying? How did the landing turn out? What happened?

BWB

On 3 Jun 2004 07:18:25 -0700, (lowflyer) wrote:

"Peter Gottlieb" wrote in message . net...
"lowflyer" wrote in message
om...
(Badwater Bill) wrote in message
...

You sound like the guy to answer a question I've had for a long time.
You know the old saw about doctors and Bonanzas. I've always wondered
if it was true.

That would be a complex study indeed.

Do you know many doctors? Many of them do indeed make a lot of money, but
they also work long and stressful hours. This tends to result in pilots who
don't fly enough yet can afford expensive fast airplanes. A fast plane gets
"ahead" of you much quicker than a slow one. Now add in complex avionics

I know a lot of doctors and know what they earn, but that's another
thread. You've re-stated the mantra, which on the surface seems
logical, but is it true? In many walks of life we accept things as
truth never knowing the origen of the "truth", only to discover on
analysis that it's false.


Oh, I have to tell ya, I took a shot at the doctors on that one. It
may be unjustified at this point in time. I don't know it to be a
fact. In fact, doctors don't make the money they used to make in
relation to other businessmen. It's just that I've been a CFI for 30
years and I've never met a medical doctor who remained proficient. As
I sit here to day and think about all my doctor friends who own
Bonanza or Cessna-210's and 310's I can't think of any of them I'd put
my wife in the cockpit with. For some reason they just don't stay
current, proficient or even safe.

Staying proficient in a high performance airplane is a tough thing to
do. It requires you to go flyin a couple times each week and not just
for fun either. You have to go shoot approaches, do some maneuvers
and stay on top and ahead of the machine. If you can't do that , you
have no business owning that level of airplane.

I have a buddy who is a doctor who doesn't fly much at all but what he
did was convert his Cessna 210 into something quite docile in order to
compensate. He put speed breaks on it, a Robertson STOL kit, Flint
tips to increase the aspect ratio. The ailerons droop when you lower
the flaps, etc. He did everything he could to make the airplane into
a C-172 when you slow it down. And I'm here to tell you, it worked.
That old airplane is like an old horse. If you fell asleep, it would
find its way back home. You can't stall it at all (I mean it's hard
to do). With the ASI reading 55 knots and the nose up 20 degrees, at
full flaps it just parachutes down into the runway at about 300
ft/min.

My buddy survives this way because his business is just too demanding
for him to go fly twice a week and stay proficient. So, this airplane
is not beyond his cabability to cope with. The Lancairs are a
completely different ball of wax. You don't have the extra useful
load to install all the safety stuff that makes that wing well behaved
at low speed. So, you has what you has. One hundred knot pattern
speeds and 90 over the fence. More like flying a fighter than an
private airplane. You must stay proficient. Even then it still might
bite you.

BWB



With the

On Thu, 03 Jun 2004 16:45:42 GMT, "Richard Kaplan"
wrote:


"Bill Denton" wrote in message
...

Take a Bonanza. Put a pilot in it, a pilot who one hour previously was
sewing somebody's heart closed...

First of all, few doctors do work that is as dramatic as you say... probably
similar to the percentage of pilots who regularly do inverted flat spins.

Second of all, self-confidence is a TERRIFIC pilot attribute. The problem
only comes in when that self-confidence is not equally tempered with an
understanding of one's limitations. As for doctors, the concept of risk vs.
benefit is very well understood. The sports analogy does not hold.


--------------------
Richard Kaplan, CFII

You guys are very interesting to read. Where the hell did you come
from? I've rarely seen such thought provoking posts on RAH. It must
be the cross post to this other group on piloting. Thank you for
taking the time to share your thoughts here.

What you say here reminds me of John Kennedy and his crash. Here was
a guy with all the money in the world, all the women he'd ever need,
all the "everything" that being rich could bring a guy. I think that
someone like him may have extrapolated into thinking they were so
blessed that they didn't need to pay attention in an airplane in
marginal VFR conditions without proper training.

As an old time CFI and CFII I've seen this a lot and it's what I call
the "Doctor" syndrome, although it isn't strictly reserved to doctors.
These people are so successful in every aspect of their lives that
they assume they will be "just as blessed" with good luck, proper
responses and problem solving techniques in a 200 mph airplane in IMC.
It is as you guys say. It's an ego thing of self confidence. Kennedy
was so successful and blessed, he knew the laws of physics were for
everyone else and since he was so special, they just didn't apply to
him. It's a mind-set. I for one, think this had a lot to do with
what bit him.

BWB

From: (Badwater Bill)

I think Bill has been drinking some of that bad water
..Staying proficient in a high performance airplane is a tough thing to
do. It requires you to go flyin a couple times each week and not just
for fun either.

If you HAVE to fly twice a week to stay proficient you are just a tad short of
being a pilot! And a J-3 will kill ya just as quick as a 210---or a Lancair.
Mac