My IVP stalls clean at 76 kts clean, and 65 kts in landing configuration. But I never get that slow. Or even close. I fly downwind at 130, a very rounded base / transition to final at 120, and approach at 110 on final, slowing down to 100 over the fence.
One of the things my bird did when I was doing the initial testing was a 90 degree snap roll to the right when I stalled it (And I mean Snap!). From there, it's pretty easy to get into a spin.
I fly a 1500 foot pattern for a little extra safety, knowing that any stall even at that altitude would be un-recoverable.
Eventually, I had the wings "indexed," and ended up lowering the trailing edge of the right wing slightly perhaps 3/16th of an inch. It now stalls straight ahead and I think my stall speeds were lowered slightly because of that exercise. But it is still a squirrely stall that seems very unnatural compared to other planes I've flown. it does this weird yaw thing, maybe because of the small tail.
A 4P is not your father's Olsmobile, or a Cessna. I's not a good plane to go slow and low for sight seeing. And 4P's are all different. Not all of them are square. You're smart to test it out before you buy to find a good one.
All of this said, I LOVE my plane. I love that it is fast. You just have to know the machine to stay safe.
John Hafen
IVP 413AJ 300 hours
On Jun 15, 2011, at 5:24 PM, RONALD STEVENS wrote:
I know this is a sensitive subject but I just got a flight test review back from a plane that I am thinking to buy and was a bit surprised about the stall speeds that were in there.
What kind of stall speed (clean/50%/Dirty) do you have in your 4p? And were you ever thinking of having it improved by Vortex Generators or Wing cuff?
Thanks -- Ronald