Bill Freeman wrote:

I'd like a bit of info from some of the RV fliers out there.  I'm a bit
spoiled since I fly the Long EZ which can't stall and the C182 which
damn near can't stall (an exaggeration, and I AM careful with it, but
they are very stall resistant), so am a bit of out of touch with the more
conventional high performance homebuilt state of the art when it comes
to stall behavior.  What is the behavior of the RV at a 1G stall and
how different is the accelerated stall?  How critical is a centered ball
to the respose at stall?  How much does builder variation seem to
affect the stall speed and response?

Does the RV series us any triangular leading edge "stall strips" to cause
an aero buffet stall warning?  Are there any of the new "hi tech" stall
protections (cuffs, vortex generators, slots, etc) recommended, used
or even tested?  Was the accident aircraft stock or modified in any
way that might have affected the aerodynamics, esp at high alpha?  How
was the accident aircraft set up for CG?  Any chance that the CG was
aft?   An aft CG generally causes lighter elevator forces, making it much
easier to pull a bit too hard and cause an accelerated stall.  Aft CG also
causes lower natural pitch stability and a more difficult recovery from a stall.

It is really a shame to lose friends to an aviation accident - I've been there,
worked on the crash investigation at the scene, and didn't like it.  Would
rather it never happened again.  It seems more frustrating that this is a very
old accident type, we should all have airplanes that protect us from this std
accident.   This was part of the reason I chose the LE, but please don't take
this as a slam at the RVs.  Just trying to understand the state of the art for
RVs and stall protection and warning.  Seems like the RVs are a nice
airplane with a lot of good performance.  I sure hate to seen ANY aircraft
accidents that might have been avoidable.

We need to learn from this loss of life, maybe somebody will do SOMETHING
differently and will avoid this same problem.

Bill Freeman

 
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