Just catching up with this thread. Would be interested in some expansion on JT’s comment in response to the passage I quoted from FAA SAIB CE-11-17, so I have a better understanding of the intersecting variables. For convenience, here’s the SAIB passage I quoted, followed by a quote of JT’s comment:
The design maneuvering speed (VA) is the speed below which you can move a single flight control, one time, to its full deflection, for one axis of airplane rotation only (pitch, roll or yaw), in smooth air, without risk of damage to the airplane.
[Bolding in SAIB CE-11-17.]
I'd take issue with that statement, unless qualified. Especially for pitch, if Va is above Va min, there is the presumption of a checked manoeuvre to avoid exceeding the limit load factor. We need to keep in mind that Va is thinking about the controls, not the main airframe structure.
When you say: “if Va is above Va min”, are you talking about cases in which the designer has chosen to nominate a Va above Vs*sqrt(n)?
Is your point that because of what Va is actually only about – design of the empennage and ailerons – there are cases in which full deflection of a single flight control (particularly for pitch) may not be a problem for the empennage or ailerons in isolation if that happens at or below Va, but may still be a problem from the limit load factor of the ‘main airframe structure’? (That’s presumably why AC 23-19A says, among other things: “Va should not be interpreted as a speed that would permit the pilot unrestricted flight-control movement without exceeding airplane structural limits, nor should it be interpreted as a gust penetration speed.”) Thus: “without risk of damage to the airplane” is an overstatement in the passage quoted from SAIB CE-11-17?