just remember that Va is a safety valve that allows the structure of the plane to be preserved by unloading the structure.
the structure can and is unloaded by stalling before the structure fails.
some smart guy with a slide rule (remember those) has figured out the speeds and published them.
the speeds depend on weight
so , know your weight (plane's weight) and observe the speed limits when the air is not smooth or if you plan to make anything but very smooth, gentle maneuvers with the plane.
Now, you would think that if the plane weighs MORE the speed should be less to keep safe....but because the plane weighs MORE it stalls at a higher speed and there is a margin between the Va and stall that is adequate
why? because STALLING is the safety valve and preserves the structure.
but if you are flying too fast and the plane is too light, you won't stall in time to preserve the structure. why? because the plane won't stall at higher speeds because it is too light.
now...play around with it, think about it, but on the ground where you can't be hurt.
loading comes in forms like .high g maneuvers (steep turns), turbulence,
you can also unload a plane (to a degree) by pushing forward on the yoke (do it too much and you might end up in the negative g range and that's not good either...stick and rudder talks about unloading a plane in a turn to avoid a stall)
and tomake things even more difficult, jets use something called rough air penetration speed and DP Davies talks about this and its selection in his book, "handling the big jets". but unless youare going to fly a jet, don't bother.
I know of one accident many years ago with a brand new private pilot, flying at night, in a complex/high performance single, running into a thunderstorm on autopilot. He was flying above Va and overloaded the structure and the plane broke apart in flight. He overcontrolled the plane and bam.
He was in over his head...all 4 aboard were killed.
avoid problems, esp for your first 200 hours. don't fall for traps that others have paid for with their lives.
oh, and look at the airspeed indicator and the different ''arcs'' on small planes...you know, stuff like the red line, yellow arc ,green arc, white arc andknow what they mean.