barbershopquartets
It's called VNE for a reason. 'Velocity NEVER Exceed'
Sure Vd is design speed - 10% margin over VNE - but the aircraft will have never intentionally been flown at Vd.
When the design goes through testing the test pilot will only take the aircraft up to 'Vdf' which is only halfway between Vne and Vd - 5%
Beyond these marging you become a test pilot yourself - not a good scenario.
If faced with a situation which means either busting Vne or pulling too much 'g' then I have always been instructed to pull too much 'g'
You may well bend the aircraft but remain flyable however, busting Vne - Vd is more likely to cause a catastrophic failure of the airframe.
I had a terrifying experience whilst flying an aerobatic sequence in a comp.
Inverted 45 down line on Vne.....big -4g push and the whole rear end started to flutter.
The big pin (and its bushes) that held the tailplane on were worn beyond limits and this had not been picked up on the C of A.
They started to flutter and then the whole rear end (fin too) started to throw themselves around.
Sound was terrifying.
I pushed into an inverted up line to bleed the speed whilst preparing to make a hasty exit (parachute) if need be.
Surprisingly the whole back end continued to flutter until the speed had bled off to about 70 knts.
Got it back on the ground ok - ashen faced and scared.
The judges had heard the whole thing 4,000' below and 1km away!
Also, 5 knts off Vne off the bottom of a comp spin exit when the airbrake caps decided to lift and chatter at very high speed and volume - sounded like a machine gun going off in the cockpit. Nearly Sh*t myself - would of been very easy to overreact and pull too much 'g' and resultant overstress - luckily maintained my focus.
barbershopquartets - It aint no joke - it's a risky place to be if you don't know what you're doing.
Get some proper training and If you do exceed any limits - TELL SOMEONE.
The next guy in the aircraft may well end up your victim in a manslaughter case.
Last edited by Go Smoke; 30th Sep 2005 at 11:27.