Tom,

   After thinking about your email for a while, I feel motivated to say something. My late brother-in-law (died may 2003) moved up into a Lancair IV with low time. I gave him most of his dual but discovered after his death, that he was doing very dangerous behaviours. Because of the strength of the Lancair he felt he could do some very scary things to at least me as a graduate engineer and test pilot. One of many things that he was doing was regularly exceeding the red line in dives (according to a friend of his that rode with him a lot, as much as 100 kts over the red line). He lived 60 miles south of me and people who knew us both did not say anything to me about his activities until after he killed himself and 3 others. You can look it up on the NTSB website.

    The bottom line of this is I want to strongly convey to you to follow closely the rules and restrictions that your flight instructor recommends as the life that you save will be your own and maybe your loved ones. One of major rules that I gave him that he violated is never fly close to a thunder storm (the proper distance varies with the size of the storm and your proximity to the freezing level). The second rule that he violated was if you have a problem in the airplane find out why, fix it, and make sure that it will not happen again. His Chilton had froze up in the clouds in the recent past.

    It (the Lancairs) are great airplanes and lots of fun to fly but as in any high performance airplane it is very unforgiving of mistakes.  So in conclusion be careful and listen to your flight instructor (don't think he is too careful). Remember there are old pilots and bold pilots but very very few old bold pilots. This is the piston powered aircraft version of a crotch rocket.

Jack Webb

L360, LIV

AeroSpace Engineer BSAE
FAA Designated Check airman for C421, C404 & C310
ATP, CFI Airplanes & Instruments, Multi, & Sea
Numerous Jet Type Ratings, Both Small and Huge
Experienced Experimental Test Pilot both multi and single engine aircraft
Former Chief Engineering Test Pilot for a Major Manufacturer