Lance vx. 6/300

Nobody wrote:
: I haven't flown one but read in the "Aviation Consumer guide" that at slow
: speeds with high angle of attacks, the tail does not get enough air because
: it is in the area behind the main wings. Makes sense to me, but you want to
: read up on it. Losing elevator control in a slow speed, high angle of attack
: situation is something I don't want from a plane. And I guess there are a
: lot pilots who don't like that kind of behavior. If you fly the plane by the
: numbers it doesn't matter but things happen, and then...???

This is called a "deep stall", and only can happen on T-tail aircraft. You
might do a Google on "Trident Staines" to find out what happens when it is
taken to an extreme. A deep stall is generally considered to be unrecoverable.
This phenomenon has been experienced on B-727 airplanes as well. If memory
serves, the last occurrence was in New York in 1974 or so (there were
mitigtating features, having to do with pitot heat and erroneous airspeed
indications). NTSB report AAR-75-13 has more details.

I would have a hard time believing that any partially competent pilot in
a piston single can get it into a deep stall situation. I haven't flown
a T-tail lance, but I have flown a T-tail turbo arrow, and I didn't
notice a big deal. Set the trim correctly and it flies off the runway.
I didn't notice any untoward stall behavior, either, but I had only 70
hours of flight time at the time (I was considering buying it, but it
was out of my price range at the time).

--
Aaron Coolidge