Doug Hoff Page

A question of the "safety" of the Express has been raised by Doug Hoff and should be of interest to you readers. Forward your comments to Doug. Send any additional comments to me, Jerry, so I can add them to the page if you feel they are pertenant.

Dear Jerry:

I just read the article in the Feb. 1998 Sport Aviation magazine. I didn't realize that you were a celebrity! I can't imagine putting 5000 hours into a plane. I'd like to see it sometime as it must be immaculate.

I was wondering if you thought that the article was correct and accurate. It seemed very critical of the Express. Do you know if any of the design problems that they talked about have been corrected or if any further testing or design corrections have been made since then? Maybe I'm being too cautious but you can't be too careful when the lives of your family are at stake! Thanks jerry.

Doug Hoff. doug@scotchcap.com

The following is my response to Doug:

Dear Doug,

Thanks for the email and the questions .

I can appreciate your concern about the safety of "any" airplane. "All" airplanes have limitations depending on the "cosmetic" design and the "mission" design. I have owned 5 Cessnas that all had limitations. Most were placarded to "not allow slips with full flaps deployed". All aircraft will stall and crash if flying speed is not maintained (as I did on my first flight).

John, the current CFI demo pilot for the Express Aircraft Co., flew my Express yesterday at the Golden West EAA Flyin and loved it. He was able to compare the flying qualities of the two aircraft and recognized that my Express (CT) had less yaw stability with the smaller tail area. The biggest difference between the S90 and the CT is the size of the tail area. That increase (40%) improved low speed handling characteristics which is an improvement, especially with a larger engine. However, both airplanes are safe to fly if you fly them within their respective envelopes. Meaning, all airplanes have limitations and must be flown accordingly.

The Cafe article is not "negative" but rather is an excellent overview of the advantages of the Express design. But it also points out the limitation of the Cruciform empenage with regards to a low speed (approach) full cross control slip with flaps deployed. Don't do it in this airplane unless you have full knowledge of its implications. Partial slips are fine as with most airplanes. However, you as the pilot, must be aware of that limitation by either taking advantage of an experts opinion (C.J. Stephans of Cafe Foundation whom I hold in high regard) or as Jim Warner did, go up, fly it until it goes up side down and recover so you will know what happens. That is true for all pilots and all airplanes.

Other items referred to in the article are things that can easily be changed or altered to the builders satisfaction.

I have 260 hours on my Express with no problems regarding safety of flight. I have 3600 hours flying time (private) and I could write a book on all the stupid things that I did which might have caused me real trouble. I do not do rolls or any unusual attitude flight exercises in my Express. It is not designed for that although some pilots are brave enough to do so and survive. It has been generally understood that the factory demonstrator that crashed in Wyoming and killed three people (friends of mine) was probably a result of an attempted aileron roll under the wrong conditions. The test pilot who did the flying for Ken Wheeler told me later that, "if the airplane was loaded and flown as indicated in the NTSB report that it would not come out of the roll". It didn't.! The NTSB report listed cause of the accident as "pilot error" if I recall correctly.

The Express is a wonderful fast, economical, comfortable airplane with loads of carrying room and is great for long cross country flights. The current owners of the Express Aircraft Co. and it's employees are dedicated to providing even a better, lighter, Express kit airplane that is easier to build and fly.

Available to the new builder is a terrific existing builder network that can be of assistance throughout the building process. There also is a great bi-monthly newsletter, the "Express Link", which provides up to date information to it's subscribers. And, of course, my Web Page, "Express Builders Help Page", is available on the Web and offers tid bits and hot links.

My Express can be flown (IO360 TCM 210 hp) all day long at 180 mph (or faster on higher power setting and fuel flow) on 8 gph with enough fuel (92 usable) to fly non stop to Chicago from the west coast. How many airplanes (certified or experimental) can do that?

You asked my opinion about the Express. Mine is exactly the same configuration as the demonstrator N210EX that crashed. Same engine, same CT tail configuration, and probably about the same empty weight although we never really new that figure about 210EX. If I were to choose a kit airplane to build today, out all those available, I would again choose and build an Express.

Best regards. Please stay in touch.

Jerry Sjostrand jerico@sierratel.com

The following is Bill Copeland's comment:

    Let me apologize for not getting into your exchanges before. My schedule has been ridiculous - like most other retired guys.
    Doug, I fully concur with Jerry's answer below. My brother and I are building a CT version and expect to fly it like the cross country airplane that it is.
    If only concern you have which is preventing you from starting an EXPRESS is the safety of the CT model, then you should look no further. You always have the choice of the Series 90 standard tail model, but you should know that there are now about 45 EXPRESSes flying, the majority of which are CT models, and there are several with over 500 hours of flight time. None of the owners, to my knowledge, have had any problem(s) what-so-ever with the flight characteristics of this airplane.
    In addition, knowing what I have recently learned about the improvements being made to the basic kit components, I have to further agree with Jerry that, if I was to consider building another kit airplane, it would be the EXPRESS!
   I hope this adds useful answers to your questions. If I can answer any specific questions, do not hesitate to contact me - or Jerry, I imagine.

Bill Copeland.    bnbent@pacbell.net