It dawned on me as I read the Bell Crank posts just how important this forum really is. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that when Cessna or Piper used to roll out new designs (back in the days of Eisenhower) there was NO RESOURCE to compile information and data on how the new designs were working. It would have been a trickle of info into Kansas slowly, if at all.
The good news is: we get PIREPS all the time.
The bad news is: we get PIREPS all the time.
Obviously I don’t really mean that is bad news, it is simply that one must try to remember that it will be impossible at first glance to discern potentially serious fleet-wide issues from random problems. The great news is, as with the Bell Crank, we all share information that encourages us to look at the plane, check potential trouble spots…etc. What a bonanza ( pun intended) for owners of a brand new design. Owners of Mooneys, Cessnas, etc. have spent years building up their databases by newsletter. We have one right here at our fingertips.
I do not think it is a stretch to say that depositors on other new designs, such as Lancair, would probably benefit from a forum like this one. If they had one for Lancair I’d monitor it, who knows maybe a RG columbia 400 is in the works, but I have no way of finding out. To me, this forum is another added safety feature for Cirrus aircraft. It means that if we the owners discover a design issue, that CD will address it swiftly, not after years of NTSB reports. Let’s continue to use this forum wisely, with some dillegence and patience.
Dean