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Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:42:42 -0500
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Subject: Re: [LML] Re: aopa turbine numbers: $ vs safety
From: Charles Brown <browncc1@verizon.net>
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Thanks Paul for some very interesting data and thoughts, esp on the =
relative merits of certified vs experimental safety.  I've spent a =
lifetime in airplane and missile design and have seen lots more of what =
you described, i.e., failures by certified systems, certified systems =
misunderstood by pilots, and completely unanticipated types of failures =
(a 737 ingesting a horse on takeoff; a 727 engine that blew up and fell =
off when blue water from the front lav leaked through a bad seal, froze =
on the outside of the fuselage, cracked off and went into the engine =
inlet). =20

Industry insiders, at least the good ones, have no illusions about the =
meaning of certification.  It means that the product went through some =
design reviews, manufacturing process steps, and tests -- all conducted =
by *people*, ultimately.  And then it gets turned loose on an =
unsuspecting world for ultimate testing -- fleet ops.  That's why =
Consumer Reports will never recommend a new model of any car, even if =
it's made by Honda or Toyota -- until they have a year or two of test =
data in the hands of ordinary car owners.

General aviation equipment suffers from having such a small number of =
units and so few hours of fleet use compared to just about any other =
complex product -- cell phones, computers, cars, even airliners.  So we =
are constantly in a state of beta test, even with certified equipment.

So I guess the ultimate point is that we are the testers, whether the =
equipment is from Joe's Hobby Garage or Continental or Acura.  =
Complacency kills, so I have a couple of rules of my own:

1.  Every mechanic / tech / designer out there is trying to kill me.
2.  When something breaks, Rule 1 is Fly The Airplane.

I'll be staying tuned to all you guys whose heads are in the game, I'm =
pretty impressed with LML and will let you all know anything interesting =
that happens with my Legacy / G900 / Sorceror / IO550.  PS -- I went =
with electric backup gyro, but will freely admit that there is a =
slightly higher probability that it will fail at the same time and for =
the same reason as the G900, compared to a vacuum powered gyro.  But I =
think its still a very small probability -- I avoid lightning -- and I =
didn't want the weight and maintenance burden of a vacuum system because =
they do fail regularly.

Charley Brown  N550KC  80 hours

On Jan 19, 2012, at 2:48 PM, paul miller wrote:

I'm really intrigued by the overall discussion on safety.   ......=