On Aug 31, 2005, at 8:29 AM, MikeEasley@aol.com wrote:

I fly my ES at 80 down final without too much float, more that I got with my Mooney though.  Why are the Legacy guys zooming down final?

I agree, Mike. Here's my take...

It seems to all stem from fear, frankly. Fear of a hot airplane, fear of poor pilot skills leading to ineffective training, fear of voodoo wind shear, and the list goes on.

It is one thing to drill into guys that the Legacy is a high performance aircraft and needs to be treated as such. It's quite another to put band aids on poor skills, planning, and situational awareness by creating a "buffer" against the demons that everyone thinks lurk at the bottom end of the Legacy envelope.

As an example, I know a buddy who flew with a friend who had a 360 and just about freaked when he wanted to explore slow flight before returning to the pattern for the first time. He literally broke out in a cold sweat when the aircraft got below 100 KIAS, like it was going to fall out of the freakin' sky....and it appears that he is not the only one out there like this.

Look, I've probably shared more opinions on this list than is in my own best interest, but I have a real hard time keeping quite when things seem unnecessarily out of whack - particularly when it comes to safety and training. Soooo, what's one more, right?

Flying 120 KIAS in the pattern and 100 on final is all well and good when you have it all to yourself or a guy on short final when you enter the downwind. BUT, what are you going to do when your #4 following an Archer, a 152, and a Katana, with 3 planes behind you at a controlled airfield???

The Legacy is a high performance airplane with a less forgiving wing than a 172, but it's not an F-104 or a T-38! Get enough training and develop the skills to competently fly your airplane at the lower end of the envelope so as to be able to feel and understand what's going on when the airplane starts talking to you. It may not beat you over the head with it's warnings, but comments like the Legacy stalls with "little warning" are ill conceived and suggest to me the author needs a better understanding of the Legacy "language" - there are *all kinds* of signs that you're approaching the bottom of the envelope.

If you do not have absolute confidence in being able to safely perform a go-around in the Legacy from 1.2-1.3 Vso with all that excess thrust, you may want to reconsider flying it. The "added" safety of flying at 1.5-1.6 Vso I keep hearing about presents it's own set of hazards (running down planes in the pattern, etc.). While I sure don't have tons of time flying razor wing aircraft like some guys on this list, I have never heard of such a standard practice in any other high performance airplane.

I would love to hear what Pete Z. and other "high performance" pros have to say on this issue...

Cheers,

Barry