Let's see, the F105 was what you'd call a high performance airplane. The "G" model, the heaviest, had a basic final approach speed of 194 or 197 knots (memory fails me). It would fall out of the sky at just under 170 knots. That's not even a margin of 1.2 times Vs0.

Why didn't we add another 10-20 knots so we could feel safer, and according to some on this list, actually think we were safer. Some did. Some died. All that energy has to go somewhere. Why would you do it, if you had a choice. In the Thud, it translated to blown drag chutes, and hot brakes, soon followed by blown tires.

While working on my little monster today, I was thinking about a recent post on this board. It was someone's "rules". When I first read it, I thought "Wow, this is pretty timid stuff". Then it occurred to me, no, this guy's braver than even I am. I can't imagine flying solo in a airplane that I was incompetent to do slow flight or stalls without an instructor onboard (not just an ordinary instructor, but a "company" instructor). I could recover from stalls before I was allowed to solo as a student pilot.

If you can't do this really easy stuff. Stuff like flying final "on speed", slow-flight, and stall recoveries, then you need to get some training, else we'll be reading about you in a much sadder message.

Bill Kennedy
N42BK