[j ferguson]

I'm sorry. I too was a little slow. trouble with net is that often the tweakee doesn't pick up the droll inflection.

I find this thread invaluable. If it were addressed to safely flying 150's it would be different. I don't think I need to be told to "fly the plane" any more. The words are tatooed on my backside, right next to "maintain airspeed."

But we are not discussing planes of which there are currently thousands and where you can hope that type-specific problems will happen to someone else first and be the subject of an AD, a Flying Magazine article, or become part of our lore. You don't have to be a test pilot in a 150, except maybe when it's fresh out of the shop.

So we come down to operational issues and design issues. I was fascinated by the Fred Murrin wind-driven air pump relief valve setting report. I don't doubt for a minute that this is something I could have done, or for that matter, do. I wonder if he's discovered that the induction system on his engine needed more than the 1 1/2 psi he'd set the valve for and that he was getting the additional pressure via the head of fuel in a full tank.

There are also the handling issues, drag, and different performance peculiar to high drag/low powered planes - a type I haven't flown. And with wing profiles not found in more recent planes. And no elevator trim.

And the drag contributed by the very low propeller rpms possible on a gear reduction engine - perhaps an undocumented feature - but one that can be useful in a too high approach, but which must always be taken into account in a plane so equipped.

And then there's the business with the unburnt fuel emitted by blipped or ignition sequenced rotaries. It would be really nice to find out that this is a non-issue and get some insight into why.

So maybe we should be thinking about "why is this airplane different from all other airplanes?"