SonexBuilders.net

daleandee wrote:[quote="Rynoth"
Here is an research paper from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University dated 1985:

http://www.liftreserve.com/erau.htm

Dale, thanks for that link. So, the LRI seems pretty useful for telling us something we probably care about a lot: "As I get slow, how close am I to the wing's critical AoA?" In the low speed regime the information from the LRI is repeatable, accurate, and fast. At higher speeds (maybe trying to max perform the plane in a loop, etc) the LRI may not be as accurate. Most of us probably don't need that info often.

Has anyone seen plans for a low-cost vane-type true AoA indicator?

:D You can have my LRI when you pry it from my cold dead hands!

*

daleandee wrote:

Bryan Cotton wrote:It is all a matter of practice. Practice for the feel and situational awareness. I am all for builders adding stuff they like. That is part of the homebuilding scene. But I also think I could do a carrier landing in my Waiex without a LRI. Of course that is probably BS!

I'm certain that you are correct. But I will still insist that an LRI will tell you the truth on those occasions when your senses may not, either because of fatigue, disorientation, distraction, etc. The Sonex is a very honest airplane to fly and most can feel a stall coming a long way off. But so are Cessna 150's and pilots manage to stall/spin them at low altitudes now and again with horrendous results.

Do you suppose an AoA instrument would have helped here: http://www.wpbf.com/news/south-florida/ ... d=18365316

Sure sounds like a stall and spin based on the eye witness description.

Hard to say. Right now everything is speculation. Happened at an airport. Was it an attempted turn back? Are your eyes going to be inside for that?

Edit: let's let the NTSB get at least through its prelim and then we can debate the point. Sad accident.

radfordc wrote:
Sure sounds like a stall and spin based on the eye witness description.

That eyewitness description leaves a lot to be desired. I'm very sorry to hear about this accident.

Having two close friends die in an airplane accident while another friend watched a few years ago the one thing I learned is that you can't believe anything the local press writes or publishes about an airplane accident. Making a right or left turn is suddenly doing a loop and flying at pattern altitude is buzzing the treetops according to the clueless news reporters. I say wait for the NTSB report and until then ignore everything else you read unless it is written by a person that was there and not "interpreted" by the news idiots. Speculation and second hand accounts serve no real purpose and accomplishes very little.

Keith
#554

^ What Keith said ^

Bryan Cotton wrote:Hard to say. Right now everything is speculation. Happened at an airport. Was it an attempted turn back? Are your eyes going to be inside for that?

True. I guess my point is that having tons of training and experience won't necessarily keep you from doing something fatal.

Prelim released:
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief ... 0404&key=1