Originally Posted by
robrob
I do believe that we were operating the aircraft with the CG beyond the aft limit which would make the aircraft more unstable and more likely to enter and remain in a spin.
[...]
The more I learn about the T67 the more I realize the Air Force did a crappy job of developing the operating manual and the training syllabus for the instructors and the cadets.
Having once stalled my T67M Mk-II with the CofG
at (but not beyond) the aft limit, I can confirm that the behaviour is MASSIVELY different to even a few millimeters further forward, and I will not be repeating the experiment. I would
not want to spin the aircraft with an aft CofG, but I am quite happy spinning it elsewhere in the W&B/CofG envelope.
Sadly the "crappy job" robrob refers to resulted in multiple fatal accidents and wrecked the reputation of a very capable aerobatic initial trainer aircraft.
In my opinion, the Firefly's biggest weakness is that it is too
easy to fly (and to aerobat) most of the time, imbuing pilots with confidence not matched by their competence. This results in them taking risks they don't understand and aren't capable of handling, giving an accident rate which is higher than some other aircraft, but it is lower than others, and is comparable with most other aerobatic types which are used primarily for aerobatics (i.e. discounting the C152Aerobat which is seldom aerobatted).