Bailing Out Sucks - Preflight briefing for Flt 6 of Hakan's Lancair

[@ronpurcell9984]

I will have to watch this about three more times to make sure my sponge absorbs what there is to learn here. Thanks Elliot

[@utopiasnow]

Thank you Ron!

[@m118lr]

This conversation, and the ‘ride-alongs’ are Golden. The kind of “stuff” not generally allowed to those of us who have OFTEN wondered about the ‘Test Pilot’ world and all that THAT entails. BEST channel on Y/t. Thanks Elliott! Stay safe brother..

[@dunxy]

I also wonder how he fits into that flight suit with you-know-whats that must be the size of watermelons!

[@larryegilman1]

This conversation, plus the complexity of the test card ( and nothing else, and no other channel) drove the comment that professionals are worth every dollar. Crowd says" it's a design that's been around for years, you can fly it....ya right. How much flying have most builder pilots done while building....usually little. The items in this conversation likely are "muscle memory",... you don't have to think and decide what to do. Experience and education will enable you to proceed correctly and bring you safely back to earth, with or without the airplane. The educational value of your channel, and respect for you is why I follow you.

[@utopiasnow]

Thanks for the comment. It is unusual to be able to share a moment like this. But for me these are the most interesting corners of the job.

[@MotoLen51]

Communicating is always the hardest and most important part. 👍🏼

[@utopiasnow]

Well said!

[@RobtheAviator]

As an airline pilot and an A&P I watch these videos and think to myself “Elliot is living the dream”. His life combines pretty much everything I am interested in intellectually!

[@utopiasnow]

Distill it all down to the most perfect moments, it all becomes a lovely dream. Thank you for the comment

[@user-nm9fk7cb4b]

What an interesting and consistently abstractly relevant channel. Your content makes me feel more equiped and excited to review previously studied material in many areas of study. Even basic VCE math takes on more relevance and application, and for the time being I am lost for words. I am jealous of your effort and work, and I hope that your effort can inspire me and others to enjoy what little we may have so that we may develop something more than we have done so I’m not looking for a reply, I’m just glad to watch your videos. Thanks for uploading. Always look up :)

[@Jerryberry172]

Awesome start to the morning. Elliott your timing is impeccable as always!

[@utopiasnow]

Glad you think so!

[@motorcop505]

Another great video Elliot! It is always so informative to listen to your briefings and analysis of events and conditions you find with various aircraft you test. I can't thank you enough for all the Wasabi swag!

[@renierlotter3648]

Your videos are great man, thanks for sharing it with the aviation community! Would be great if you can update us on the M10 project and bring out more content on that if you can. Keep up the good work.

[@utopiasnow]

Renier, thank you for the comment. Unfortunately I am no longer with Mooney and therefore not in a place to talk about the M10 program. But you bring up a great point about how fortunate we are that Hakan is willing to share his program. It's not common in flight test that these things get shared in such an open forum.

[@mikebridges20]

Curious: have you ever done a skydive with a chute you wear for flight tests? Watched the full length video (yeah, I'm an aviation nerd), and this was one of the most valuable pieces of dialogue between a test pilot and the aircraft owner/builder/designer I've ever known of. A great example to others that will be doing similar things.

[@thomasaltruda]

You wouldn’t do a skydive with an emergency parachute unless you are a “test” jumper or do some things in preparation.. first of all, there is only one parachute in an emergency rig, and they open very quick (hard opening) and are round, not really steerable. You are required to have a reserve parachute if you are making an intentional jump on your emergency chute, and you need a way to jettison the chute in the event of a malfunction. It would probably be a good idea to get your skydiving license for the experience, and you could probably hook up an emergency chute into a skydiving rig, but you wouldn’t just “make a skydive” on your emergency chute just for fun.

[@mikebridges20]

@@thomasaltruda Thanks!

[@utopiasnow]

Thanks for the comments guys.

[@SoloRenegade]

what I would love to see is a book on Failure Modes of aircraft, such as jammed flaps, jammed ailerons, jammed elevator, etc, and how to design to avoid these failure modes. What contributed to the failure, and how to prevent each known failure mode, with an eye towards avoiding and anticipating such design issues in light aircraft. Book based on actual incidents with actual explanations of how the control failure occurred.

[@mikebridges20]

Y'know, I think I've learned at least as much from the comments on this clip as from the clip when I originally watched it!

[@utopiasnow]

Awesome, thank you for coming along.

[@andrewfragala5131]

Wow very interesting. Thank you for the video! Been on a binge watching your channel lately. Airplanes are indeed very cool! Is there any material I can read to learn more about test flying that you recommend? It's an awesome topic.

[@utopiasnow]

Welcome aboard! There is a lot of great work in this topic. What specifically interests you the most?

[@daverunner3397]

From what Ive gained from watching your vids, I will avoid kit airplanes at all costs. Thank you.

[@deSloleye]

This was another thing that was good about the big video. Not just having someone who will discuss results well, but also one who will discuss risks and try and set parameters well. It was good to see, even though it's hard for both of you. How do you decide those parameters? With the engine temps you let the owner decide, but surely if he set a temp that would damage the engine and lead to rapid failure you would say no. If he set a minimum speed you though would lead to late touchdown and high speed overrun: do you say no to that? How do you know what those limits are? 120 knots is pretty fast for a light little thing on tiny wheels, and the wing is many knots away from stalling 1G. What I saw was some numbers chucked around, but couldn't see the thinking either of you were doing to get them. I know you're doing it since you're both good aircraft engineers: I'm very curious about how you make those kinds of decisions. Would really love to know, because this stuff is really cool to watch.

[@utopiasnow]

Thanks for the comment, great questions. I think this is where the art is and like so many things it's a rabbit hole that can suck up a lot of time. My logic at the time was a 50% increase in touchdown speed is about the most I could consider with a straight face. But I was really struggling with what the results of that landing might be...which is why it's only slightly better than bailing out.

[@deSloleye]

@@utopiasnow so it's not quite that you calculate the braking distance and add a bit for an unplanned float from a gust in ground effect and see if you like the runway you have left? A high speed landing here is a touchdown at that speed, right? Not a flare at 120 and hold the nose until it quits flying. Not a nice thing to balance maybe wrecking the plane with you in it vs definitely wrecking the plane without you in it. Tough chat that one.

[@utopiasnow]

@@deSloleye Great question thank you. If you watch you can see my epiphany moment. I had been thinking how fast could I go and get stopped (touchdown speed, deceleration assumption, runway length). But it was during this conversation I realized going off the runway a 50 mph though not ideal was definitely better than bailing out. Thanks again.

[@SoloRenegade]

By bringing in a test pilot, you already acknowledged and accepted the risk that what is about to happen may result in the loss of the aircraft. Even if the risk of loss is minimal based on what is being tested, you still need to be prepared for the unexpected, and be ready to ditch the plane if it becomes necessary for any reason. I can sense the owners' unease in discussing bailing out, but it's a little late to be having second thoughts at this stage (especially since he's outsourced the risk to life and limb to someone else). Honesty and being forward is of course the best approach here to address the issue with someone. If they aren't willing to discuss it, then they shouldn't be experimenting. (just speaking broadly here)

[@eastendmafia1773]

any wasabi gear for sale? i like that sweater

[@utopiasnow]

Thats an old sweater. Check out Prefferred Altitude. www.preferredaltitude.com/products/wasabi-flight-test-t-shirt-short-sleeve

[@groomlake51]

I need to bail out! If I keep Binge watching this channel🤣

[@utopiasnow]

Thanks for saying that.

[@bartgoins1782]

I have hundreds of skydives, but I have never bailed out of an airplane. How do you bail out of a plane with a canopy that hinges in the front? It seems aerodynamically impossible to get that canopy to open, IMHO. Another great video Elliot.

[@carlwilliams8354]

Most have a pull handle that will release the canopy from the aircraft.

[@bartgoins1782]

Does this one?

[@utopiasnow]

Thanks for the comment. The canopy is not ideal for manual bailout, but especially in a departure situation the indicated airspeed would likely be low enough to be worth trying.

[@charlesincharge6512]

Bailing out does suck! One would assume you have had formal parachute training as a test pilot? Because as a student glider pilot I've never had any, other than "pull the handle" if you ever have a situation that you do have to jump out.

[@LizMatzelle]

I ride along in warbirds a fair bit, and often that involves wearing a parachute. I'm also restoring a de Havilland Tiger Moth, in which I will certainly be wearing a 'chute. Once upon a time I was sitting in on a P-51 ground school class from John Posson, and during a break he suggested that I really ought to skydive once, just so that I am prepared for what that experience would be like. That's a super logical argument and honestly I was ready to go do it as soon as he made the point, but then after a brief pause he said, "You know I've only ever had 3 chute malfunctions." !!!! That's about the quickest 180 my brain has ever done. He talked me into it, and then back out of it again, in one breath lol. Now come to find out he skydives a lot and has thousands of jumps, but....

[@utopiasnow]

Thanks for the comments. I have never bailed out in anger. I have done enough sky diving to know I don't need another expensive hobby. This is a critical piece of the emergency training pie that we should spend more time on.

[@tylisirn]

@@LizMatzelle That's why you skydive with two parachutes - the main and reserve. Both failing in one jump is extremely unlikely (but of course still a non-zero risk).

[@chrisbowpiloto]

I recall hearing that you have had a few failures in flight. How many times have you bailed out and how many times have you safely landed a stricken plane?

[@utopiasnow]

I go back on the right tone with which to talk about this topic. But yes there have been some issues on previous flights. I stopped counting at 60 emergency landings, and totaled one airplane. Had a couple this month, engine stuff but it was complicated by a row of airliners waiting to take off. I've never bailed out in anger. Thanks for the comment.

[@chrisbowpiloto]

@@utopiasnow Wow, that certainly is enough for us to understand how exciting your career has been!

[@oldschoolman1444]

Sounds like a lot of kit builds are a death trap, poor engineering an such. One would think that a builder would take a little more time and do their homework.

[@chrisbowpiloto]

@@oldschoolman1444 most of these aren't exactly kits. They are custom one -off builds. There is a lot that can go wrong when you start modifying stuff like that and no amount of "homework" will find it all. The established kits are far safer.

[@moderndimension9632]

Know when to go. THEN GO!!!!

[@utopiasnow]

Thanks for the comment

[@mahanehsani1246]

very nice

[@utopiasnow]

Thanks

[@tsclly2377]

Dude.. If I build a plane and you are going to test it.. I'll install a BSR.. and a drag chute.. then you can jump

[@utopiasnow]

Hahaha, thanks

[@BarryAir]

planes can be steered with the rudder if the ailerons wont work....up to a point

[@utopiasnow]

#themoreyouknow

[@steveshoemaker6347]

Thanks Elliot....Flame out really sucks lol....If you have time here is a link to a new plane you might like..kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2SblJZjabmpjpo

[@utopiasnow]

Its a cool one, thanks for the comment.

[@tobberfutooagain2628]

Foolishness.