On Sat, 15 May 2004 15:14:41 +0000, Pete Schaefer wrote:

Landing speeds are a big driver for the amount of injury. I think that the
FAA has a lot of data on this. Can't think of a reference off-hand, but you
can search the NTSB site. But anyway, here's the math: KE = (1/2)mv^2. The
basic conclusion is that accidents occuring at lower landing speeds do less
damage. This was a driver for the design of the RV series aircraft. If you
want safety, get something with STOL capability, make sure there's nothing
in the cockpit that's going to smack you in the back of the head if you
screw up, then practice, practice, practice (with an instructor until you
feel confident).....then practice some more. Avoid low-level aerobatics
until you're a really ****-hot pilot.

I like the look of the IBIS (http://www.junqua-aircraft.com/) and I'd
prefer to build in wood. But the more I read, the less good an idea the
Ibis seems (fast landing speeds - only a few complete, so perhaps more
prone to 'bugs' than established designs such as the LongEZ and friends).

I feel more and more drawn towards the idea of building a wooden 3-axis
microlight - some of them seem to have quite short build times, and as you
say, slow landing speeds have got to be a good thing.

You really need to forget about structural protection in a home-built. The
key is to prevent (by flight procedure, pilot skill and knowledge, and by
appropriate vehicle design) accidents from happening in the first place.

I hope I don't seem paranoid, but assuming I'm likely to be flying for 50
years, even accident rates down in the low percents seem quite alarming.

Always grateful for advice,

AC


Pete
[RV-8A in the planning stages....new shop under construction]

"anonymous coward" wrote in message
news
I agree this sounds impossibly fraught. What I would like (ideally) would
be the results of something akin to the car-crash tests that show how the
test-dummies fared in various scenarios - e.g. side impacts etc... I saw a