"I flew one pound over max gross and the wings fell off"

[Colonel]

Said by no one, ever.  A sentence that will be never spoken.  But taught
as dogma by everyone.

Just wanted to clear up some paperwork propaganda.  You can fly over
max gross, just fine.  However, your [i]performance[/i] may suck.  You can
also fly at high density altitude.  However, your [i]performance[/i] may suck.

It's important to realize that both weight and density altitude should be
concerns of yours, because they both drastically affect [i]performance[/i].  You
know, stall speed, takeoff run, climb angle, climb rate, cruise speed,
approach speed, landing distance.

As I mentioned elsewhere, with a high enough density altitude, it may be
unwise to take off at legal max gross, because your [i]performance[/i] may not
be adequate.  A guy at my home airport tried to take off one summer day
from a short grass strip at sea level, in his Piper Cherokee at legal max
gross.  He crashed and fucked up the back of a friend of mine, who had
to have vertebrae fused.  He was never the same.  TC loves the pilot of
the Cherokee.  You know, the one that crashes and fucks people up for life.

Paper is nice, but physics is what matters.

I know lots of people who have had big parts fall off their airplane, and trust
me when I say, their takeoff weight of that flight had absolutely NOTHING to
do with it.

Joe Broeders lost a wing on an experimental, because he dragged a wingtip
during a groundloop, and cracked the spar.  That was the end of a very fine
man.

Bob Sterling and his wife had their C210 come to pieces, because it had
hidden damage from a previous accident.  TSB suffered from cranial-rectal
inversion on that one, which is not unusual or surprising.

Andrew Wright had a G-202 come to pieces, due to improper bonding of the
tail surfaces.  Amazingly, that was the SECOND time a composite airplane
broke into pieces inflight, for Andrew.

Andy Philips lost his rudder due to flutter, because of Bondo aft of the hinge
and a slippery airframe (RV-7A) that gained speed far too quickly when you
put the nose down.  We put on a nice funeral for him, in Bob's hangar.

Floyd Brown had his engine ripped off his Christen Eagle which started to
tumble uncontrollably end-over-end, after he lost a prop blade.  Incredibly,
he got out and pulled the D-ring.  A very cool cat.  A four-bar, actually.  My
kind of four-bar, like Mike Mangold or Skip Stewart.  You know, that can
actually fly.

I really don't know why pilots are taught that the wings will fall off, if they fly
over max gross.  You can get paper - ferry permit - to fly an aircraft over max
gross, and remember (in case you forgot)

THE AIRPLANE CAN'T FUCKING READ

If you fly over max gross - with a flight permit - you are no longer flying a certificated
aircraft, and it's flight characteristics may not comply with FAR 23.  You know.
Like every homebuilt.

Free advice:  have a clue.  Know a little bit about what's going on.  Paper is nice,
but it is no guarantee of safety whatsoever.  A little mathematics, physics and
engineering goes a long way.

Not sure anyone cares, but aircraft come to pieces after they are damaged somehow.

This damage can come in the form of cracking due to overspeeding or cycles - see

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all ... piper-wing

or from corrosion - see the C177 spar carry-through saga, for example. 

Perhaps the aircraft wasn't put together correctly in the first place, although this is
less likely for certificated aircraft, and far more likely for experimentals.  Ask Steve
Whittman or Rick Massagee.

Free advice:  keep the metal happy.  If you're flying composite, well, you're fucked.

[JW Scud]

I met the Sterlings out west and spent a good hour with them just talking prior to their big flight back home.

This is the first that I ever heard about previous damage. I hope you don’t mind elaborating more.

Thanks