As a new owner of an ES trying to get the plane dialed in, and after speaking with a test pilot friend about the issue of increasing the GW from 3200 to 3550 or 3600, he pointed out that there are two issues, only one of which involves the strut being upgraded. The other is the wing and wing spar and its ability to handle the 4.4 -2.2 g-load at the higher GW levels. Note that fixing the strut issues with an upgraded strut does not address the other.

Apparently, if I understand it correctly, there are two ways to substantiate an increased in GW, (1) doing a structural test of the wings measuring the wing flex at the higher weight, or (2) engineering analysis on the wing spar to be sure it can handle the increased weight at the same g-forces of 4.4 -2.2.

Another way to look at this is to ask the question what was strengthened for the weight to increase from 3200 in the ES to 3550 in the ES-P per the sales material.
Does anyone have such testing documents or know where one should look to obtain? After thinking about this a bit more, I don’t believe we owners should just assume the aircraft can handle the increased weight with the same g-force rating without some documentation of the above testing from Lancair…

If you disagree, please point out why, as I am just like others trying to justify the higher GW without much to go on.

Also, if anyone has some contacts at Lancair who could shed some light on this, please let me know.

Thanks,
James Munafo Jr.