Posted for Lorn H Olsen <lorn@dynacomm.us>:

 The purpose of this letter is to show how we learn with time. It is  not to
show that I am an idiot or a poor pilot.
 
 I have over 3,000 hours total time with over 1,400 hours in my 320. I bought
the 320 in 1998. I have had 5 "incidents". All 5 were while  landing. By
"incidents" I mean no one was hurt and the aircraft had no  major structural
damage and it was flyable.
 
 The incidents are listed below:
 
             Time in
 #  Date      Type    Reason
 -  --------  ----  ----------------------------
 1  10/25/98    70  Nose gear didn't lock down
 2  11/05/99   180  Nose gear stuck problem
 3  07/14/02   590  Hard landing broke nose gear
 4  12/22/02   660  Gear up landing
 5  06/25/03   700  Wing hit airport landing lights
 
 If I started flying my plane today, I don't believe that I would have  had
any of the above incidents. I think that experience does help.
 
 Judging from Jeff's table below, it looks like most pilots learn how  to fly
pretty well by 500 hours. It took me 700. On the other side of  the coin, I
have never had an accident.
 
 I am not a professional pilot. A friend of mine invited me to Miramar  to fly
in the F/A-18 simulator. With 10 minutes of instruction, I took  off and
landed the plane 6 times and I had never seen an angle of  attack before.
 
 When I bought my plane in Carson City, Don Goetz flew down to give me
 instruction. If it weren't for Don, I wouldn't be here today. It took  me 700
hours to learn how to takeoff and land my 320.
 
 The Lancair's, at least my 320 with the short engine mount and small  tail,
is much harder to fly (well, at least land) then a military  fighter.
 
 Lorn