Lynn has far more flight experience than I do, but I do have one dead-stick landing under my belt (fixed pitch prop).  Lost half the prop and glided 20 miles over open water.  Landed uneventfully.

But even in a C/S prop Lancair, the glide ratio is pretty darned good if all the levers are pulled aft.

When you are in a power-out situation, to maximize your odds of survival you must have already made the decision on the ground that saving yourself is more important than saving the airplane.  SACRIFICE THE AIRPLANE!

- Keep your flying speed up and fly the airplane. 
- Get flaps just before landing, or earlier to help you slow and lose altitude - you can put them back up if you are dropping too fast!!!
- Land gear-up on any highway and you'll stop in less than 500' and walk away unharmed.  It's like riding a toboggan off the snow and onto the parking lot.  The pain is strictly financial...
   - - - If you DO break out of the weather and see lots of open landing space, THEN get the gear.  Really - it only takes 6 seconds.

To reiterate - make the decision ON THE GROUND that you are completely comfortable sacrificing the airplane, and practice engine-out procedures in the air on good days.  "Hey, I'm about to get to have the experience of crashing an airplane!" - sucks, but once that decision is made you are far more likely to live to tell about it.  Even one moment of fear can be enough to exaggerate your problems by entering a stall.  Airspeed FIRST, best spot to land SECOND.

When it's all over, you'll get inducted into the Highway Club by your local EAA.

Cheers,

Bill Reister
HOT-lanta, Jaw-juh



farnsworth wrote:

-----Original Message-----
From: Lancair Mailing List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf of Ron
Laughlin
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2009 9:26 AM


"I wish he had had an airframe parachute. He might still be with us. I
guess he opted for Rob's extra 10 gallons of gas that gave him soooo
many more options....

RonL"

Since an airframe parachute option is not an OPTION on a Legacy, he had two
other options that may have allowed him to survive:

1. Wear a personal parachute
2. Install a feathering prop

I have both of those options with my Legacy. The prop is counterweighted and
so will feather with loss of oil pressure.

Lynn Farnsworth
Super Legacy #235
TSIO-550 Powered
Race #44
Mmo .6 Mach
Feathering Prop