TMOH
By the way, the last time I checked, V2min is now 1.13Vs or 1.08Vs for 3+ engines. Changed as recently as 10 months ago. But I could be wrong so check for yourself. Then again, I am sure you know way more than just that and are simply trying to talk layman! One day I will understand the lingo more fully, but until that day I am but a student.
Aha! I'm afraid another "it depends" is the answer here. There are now 2 ways to determine stall speed, and which way you determine stall speed will affect the factors used for all quoted speeds.
The old way was to simply conduct the stalls and measure the minimum speed in the stall. After correcting for various factors (such as stall entry rate, residual thrust, etc.) the resulting speed was declared to be the stall speed, Vs. This is commonly called the "minimum speed" or "Vsmin" method.
The new way is to conduct the stall tests as before, but to correct all speeds obtained to the speed that would have been required for 1-g level flight. As an aircraft is usually falling out of the sky at the stall, i.e. producing less than 1-g of lift, this correction results in a higher speed than the older method. The resulting spped is the "1-g stall speed" or Vs1g. This speed is then further corrected to obtain the so-called "reference stall speed" or Vsr.
The new way is a more academically accurate way of determining the stalling speed, as it should be far more repeatable and can be linked more directly to the maximum lift producing capability of the wing. Unfortunately, the resulting speed is invariably higher than the Vsmin method would produce.
If the authorities were to mandate this new stall speed methodology, with no other changes to the regulations, the result would be to drive stall speeds up by some 6% or so (on average) and therefore V2, Vref etc would also be impacted in many cases.
But the old V2, Vref etc were safe - as demonstrated by long service experience. Therefore it was reasoned that provided the same V2 etc resulted, it was permissible to reduce the regulatory factors for those aircraft where the manufacturer elected to use the Vs1g analysis method.
Consequently, the rules are currently V2>1.2Vs or V2>1.13Vsr (for <3 engines), depending on the aircraft and analysis method used.
Afraid I can't lay my hands on the precise FAR/NPA numbers at the moment - it was a proposed rule the last time I bothered checking, but one that could be elected following discussion.
And to answer your other question: my name would have been "Mad (Flight) Scientist" but that exceeded the allowable number of characters. I'm currently a "flight scientist" (or in UK parlance aerodynamicist) for a (the??) Canadian aircraft manufacturer with a background in S&C primarily. So working out these numbers is what I do for a living (at least when people are watching!
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