The Fastest Piston Engine Aircraft In GA

[@Av8or7]

I lost my best friend in a Lancair IV-P he had time in lots of different types of aircraft. I watched it happen. The engine quit in the the pattern and it looked like it practically stood still. It has a stall speed of 82 knots. At the time, the Lancair IV-P had the had a very high fatality rate compared to other single engine high performance aircraft.

[@FlightX101]

Yup...82 knots is a HIGH stall speed. Gotta be super careful all around

[@AC-jk8wq]

Super High performance planes come with high stall speeds, and landing speeds…. Engine out performance becomes a big deciding factor… Fuel blockage becomes a serious concern… 😃

[@kraftwurx_Aviation]

The huge problem is wing loading. The plane has a tiny wing for it's weight. The high wing loading means it stalls at high speed. The stall characteristics are very bad. Combined with P Factor from such a high-powered engine, a stall can flip the plane over. There were some attempts to tame the stall with winglets and this plane has them. They make the plane slightly safer but it is a very high performance aircraft. Departure in spin is unrecoverable. With winglets I have read that someone survived a spin but only after loosing like 8,000 ft. There is a company that created a new wing and refits the IVP and calls it the LX7. I have not seen actual flight testing with the LX7 wing. Fly it like a fighter jet. I also lost someone I know in one. The flight medical doc that signed my first class 3 Medical crashed his in Galveston in about 8ft of water nose first. He lost engine, tried to turn back to runway, stalled, rolled over and went in nose first. Not for the timid.... and not for the inexperienced. Interesting note: The Colombia 400 is a derivative of the Lancair ES which is basically a Lancair IV with a bigger wing and fixed gear.

[@jlobo941]

Needs a BRS

[@iiddrrii6051]

sorry for your loss :(

[@CWasserott]

There is a design feature that many fail to understand with these planes and you mentioned it with two point you made. The side panel/arm rest and the side sticks. The design of most GA aircraft only use pulleys for moving the control surfaces back and forth. The Lancair uses pushrods. The side panel is covering those pushrods for both the elevator and ailerons. Therefore they take up a little more room to get that very positive control. The problem with pulleys is their lack of direct connection (more play than pushrods) and their potential maintenance issues (fraying). The other point is your reference to the Cirrus. The Cirrus doesn't have a side stick, it has a half yoke and uses pulleys. So the lancair side stick is more like a fighter joystick for sure.

[@Eridu]

I think these are some of the most good looking planes out there. It's like a sports car, the mx-5 or s2000 of aviation

[@nhilist5774]

I miss the s2k 😢. I know theyre still floating around but most of them are clapped

[@AC-jk8wq]

Just swap for the turbine engine…. 😃 Nice work Mike!

[@cougarlove8542]

These 210 style landing gears take this badass plane of my list. A grass strip would rip that thing apart unless it was a perfect grass strip.

[@cw9533]

Great video. You covered everything. It's not that expensive either. I wish storage, insurance, and maintenance was guesstimate in there.

[@thomascaddy9546]

I have about 50hrs flying right seat in a 4p. 137lt You fly with 2 finger tips on the stick. Only in turbulent weather do you use your hole hand.

[@dacobe01]

No rivets because it's a composite airplane. A real speed machine

[@thesearcherman6652]

You mentioned your airplane, I thought you sold it? Did you purchase another plane? Where is that episode?

[@chrisanderson1543]

You are flying on the very edge of physics. It is “cool” but very, very unforgiving!

[@mojogrip]

So I’ve been told

[@dacobe01]

It's so hard to believe it is pressurized (!)

[@grantsilagin6413]

Prices on these are definitely not $150,000… any 4ps are $250,000-$500,000

[@tropicthndr]

Wouldn’t get near a 4P, very deadly with snap over tendency when close to stall speeds. LX7 is the only way your insurance company is going to say get that one instead. Even after that they still want 10,000 hours and only instrument rated may apply. Otherwise forget it.

[@kraftwurx_Aviation]

Your speed is way low on the still image. This plane will do 333mph at FL280. 289 knots.

[@markanthony653]

Bro, why did you cut your hair? Saw it on your last video.

[@johnqdoe]

Clickbait. No chick.