233 Kts, FL230, 26 Minutes From Brake Release... Wow! Part Seven

Serious Concerns…

With speed comes responsibility… with speed and altitude comes responsibility and greater a need for understanding the realm within which we operate. It’s one thing to operate an aircraft at rarified heights… it’s another to train someone to go there. I’m not sure that ANYONE really has a handle on taking the garden-variety GA pilot from the 10-12K limits we normally play with to heights pushing five miles. Let me be perfectly clear about this… the “Flight Levels” are a killer. They do it quickly, insidiously and (usually) without a whole lot of warning. It’s also one thing to play in the Flight Levels in a pressurized airplane (with the buffer of a number of systems telling you about your potential health) and another to operate there on supplemental oxygen.

When a pressurized airplane starts to fail (breathing-wise), there are gauges and systems that tell the pilot that one’s cabin altitude isn’t up to snuff (or sniff, for the matter)… further, the sudden failure mode for a pressurized airplane is usually pretty sudden (but not always… need we hearken back to the Paine Stewart tragedy) and accompanied by significant physical warnings to let someone know that the shinola has made contact with the fan.

When a supplemental oxygen system fails, or is improperly used by a pilot, the warning signs are (usually) far more subtle and often nearly impossible to define unless there are some additional means to warn the pilot. Take this from a guy who spends WAY too much time in high-altitude, unpressurized environments (which may explain WAY too much…), but in my opinion, flying unpressurized airplanes in the flight levels is like playing Russian roulette without:

• Proper training—including a “chamber ride” if you haven’t done this before (or within a few years).
• Pilot warning/monitoring devices that will specifically warn a flyer that they are not getting the requisite oxygen necessary to fly the aircraft.
• Taking a chamber ride, at least once, is critical. Nothing will better prepare you for the way YOUR body handles oxygen deprivation than actually getting the chance to do some heavy breathing (and no, those high-school sessions with the high-school sweetie in the back of the Chevy Nova don’t count… sigh) and learn the specific signs that they our body transmits as it runs out of breathable air. It’s even better to repeat the experience every few years since as one ages, one’s physiology undergoes changes. I do a chamber ride every few years and I’m amazed at what I keep learning from the process.

PLEASE folks, if you’re going to play in the flight levels, do NOT take this for granted… your ignorance can kill you.

Lancair is making a good start with the basic training of transitioning pilots to rarified air ops, but I can’t name ANYONE who really has the hang of this yet – at least not to my paranoid way of thinking. Don’t get me wrong, the capabilities offered by the Lancair Columbia 400 are a mind-blower… unequaled by anything else in it’s class – but prepare carefully, learn thoroughly and KEEP learning –otherwise we’re going to have a repeat of the UNNECESSARY accidents that have accompanied every new leap in GA performance and capability… from the Bonanza days to the Twin Comanche days, to the early Cirrus accidents.

So… How Fast… and How High?

Mark and I suited up with the masks, imitated Hannibal Lecter for a bit, and then sweet-talked Miami center into an altitude block above 20K as we blasted off for Valhalla. Our flight to (ultimately) 23,000 feet took all of 26 minutes -- with two short altitude holds and a little begging for more altitude when it looked like we were going to be held at 21k (we had hoped for 24K). Once there… we noted barely diminished control effectiveness (barely noticeable unless you’re looking for it), solid flying harmonies and nothing to suggest that the bird was going to be guilty of bad manners. Particularly appreciated was the pitch profile… which remained solid as a rock… a nice thing to enjoy whilst trundling along through rarified air.

The numbers were pretty impressive. While cranking along at 31 inches and 2500 revs, the C400 was chugging 24.3 GPH… but turning that gluttony into a (no-fooling ) TAS of 233 knots… and it kept doing so for an extended period of time… this was no fluke… this was for real. Better; Mark still thinks there’s a few knots available from the prop and a few other minor issues. Speed freaks… God bless ‘em.

‘Twas nice at 4.5 miles above Mother Earth… we were well above the haze. A little bit of weather off to the West was well below our altitude and from here, should anything happen, we coulda glided all the way to Botswana (OK… close to Botswana). There is a lot to be said for the ability to work in rarified air and if you have the skill and equipment to do it, you’ll wonder why you ever stayed below FL 180. And that speed. Damn.

233 kts... for real. Truth in advertising? Go figure. That sure is going to ruin an industry practice...

ANN Test Pilot's Summary:

Damn.... The L400 is one badass little airplane -- 23000' in 26 minutes (with two ATC altitude holds), intensely good harmonies at altitude, and an honest to oh-my-goodness 233kts... I've got screen pix of the PFD to prove it. Yup, the L400 is as the Angelina Jolie of airplanes... BAD, beautiful, wild and SO ready to boogey. Daddy like!

This is about as nice an execution of a first-off-the-line airplane as I have seen and despite the teething problems of the past few years, industry veterans like Bing Lantis, Tom Bowen and the dedicated cadre of Lancair faithful (especially Mark “Madman” Cahill and Ron "Wrong Way" Wright) have whipped this high-performance aircraft company into serious shape.

Fit and finish look awfully good for a first airplane, the bird flies as well as its cousins (which is saying a lot) and the tail tweaks have made it a surprisingly solid bird to fly in the flight levels. We are impressed… but we want a second shot at this thing where we plan a 3 leg cross country with 300-500 mile legs, a little weather, lots of high-altitude and a serious payload. Mark says the bird is up for this “torture test” and invited me to bring it on… we will, Mark—we’re looking forward to it. This bird has guts.

Pros: FAST! FUN! Nicely organized and presented pilot’s manual, beautiful panel installation, excellent control harmonies (especially up high), GREAT spoilers, surprisingly simple systems and procedures, nicely detailed factory O2 system, GREAT baggage area.

Cons: Seats and peripheral visibility (for pilots) need some work. I’m not totally convinced that the profile mode for the PFD is the way to go. Though the MFD in profile rocks, BIG price tag (but if ya wanna play, ya gotta pay!), some justified customer bitching about factory interface with clients, unpressurized “flight-level” ops require a more professional pilot approach and training, 

One final note: This thing just begs for pressurization. While it’s a fine airplane in and of itself… the proper fruition of this program will come when they install a pressure vessel and get rid of the need for donning a mask to play in rare air. As good as the market may be for the current hot-rod king of the single-engine GA/Piston market (and the C400 is just that), I think it will pale to what will happen (if the price doesn’t skyrocket out of sight) when a pressurized version becomes available. I think such an airplane, with this kind of performance (and a slightly more mature weather/datalink system) will have them lining up around the block… and if it ever gets a turbine front-end… watch out. To quote Wil Smith in Independence Day… “I GOTTA GET ME ONE OF THESE!”

FMI: www.lancair.com/certified