Too true John.
I have not been privy to the article on door departure.
Could someone send me a copy via email to review?
I'm afraid that in my career, I have seen many canopy losses and gear up
landings. Bitching Betty annunciators, and warning lights doesn't
prevent loss, a good old look at the latches and in lighter planes
pushing on the canopy does. In the F-4, the Back Seater, read the
checklist and was listening for "Canopy closed, locked, warning light
out, stripes aligned (the mechanical locking indicator because the
canopy weighed 275 pounds and you really couldn't move it) then took off
with his canopy mechanically unlocked but the warning light out
(misadjusted switch). OOPs. Trust me, if you have one latch undone on
the Europa (or Cherokee) door, if you push on the door, it will crack
open. Make it a habit to push on both clamshell doors in your safety
check prior to takeoff, it works well, requires no power, wiring, or
crafty workmanship. If you are not flexible enough to move easily to
reach to the aft end of the door, lean forward and push on the middle of
the door (use caution with ladies to whom you are not intimate with) and
it still works. My concern is that it is not hard to add light switches
or drill the shoot bolt so the pin can be observed but it gets ignored
unless the habits are instilled in one's preflight operation.
Upholsterer's and painters can screw up those warning systems unless you
supervise them properly. I have seen many stall warning lights on at
totally flying speeds and were ignored because the builder just didn't
have time to fix it, and I have been on the runway when the canopy light
was on because it was hot, the canopy quickly closed and the takeoff
roll started and aborted by me, the observer pilot, because the pilot
was preoccupied to get off the ground for traffic (he trusted me, and it
was my door). Another was lost because the front pin was not engaged
and the warning light switch was installed only on the aft pin. Only
good habits, visual confirmation and honest checklist compliance work
for sure as familiarity breeds contempt. We are creatures of habit...
Regards,
Bud Yerly
----- Original Message -----
From: John Heykoop<mailto:john.heykoop@gmail.com>
To: europa-list@matronics.com<mailto:europa-list@matronics.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2013 3:21 PM
Subject: Re: Europa-List: Re: mid-door latch
<john.heykoop@gmail.com<mailto:john.heykoop@gmail.com>>
Hi Alan
I agree that the article in the LAA magazine was very interesting. It
would have been even better if it had highlighted the benefits of having
a warning light that illuminates if one of the rear shoot bolts hasn't
engaged properly. You can go further and have warning lights for all the
shoot bolts, but it is really only the rear shoot bolts that are a
problem.
Having a warning light does not mean that you don't need to physically
check that the doors are shut properly, but it does help to guard
against the possibility that one day you may become distracted and fail
to check properly. Or the hot day when you taxi with the door open and
think you have shut it properly before takeoff but haven't. Making
absolutely sure that the rear shoot bolts have engaged is well nigh
impossible once you are strapped in.
So why not have a warning light for the rear shoot bolts? It is cheap,
takes up very little space on the instrument panel, weighs next to
nothing and is easy to install. I would urge anybody who is still
building to make sure they install one.
Regards
John
G-JHKP
On 8 Mar 2013, at 23:50, "Alan Carter"
<alancarteresq@onetel.net<mailto:alancarteresq@onetel.net>> wrote:
<alancarteresq@onetel.net<mailto:alancarteresq@onetel.net>>
>
> Hi All.
> Been reading in the LAA magazin about Europa door departing the
aircraft, very interesting contribution.
> Way back in 2007 the previous owner of my aircraft, taxing with door
unlocked then took off, the pilots door departed the aircraft went over
the top and hit the starboard wing and aileron,
> Pilots often taxy on a hot summers day with the door open, some have
installed warning devices on the Shoe Bolts, but has anyone designed a
latch or stay to prevent it opening say less than 2".?
> Today i applied grease to the shoe bolts and found the door was very
very much better in closing, the only draw back is the grease around the
housing if ever a repair was needed, but i did notice a great difference
in closing, and much less strain on the actual door handle.
> Its probably written down some where in the manual, but the forum
jogs ones memory, and this only took a minute.
>
> Alan
>
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>
> Read this topic online here:
>
>
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=395910#395910<http://forums
.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=395910#395910>
>
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http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Europa-List<http://www.matronics.com/N
avigator?Europa-List>
http://www.matronics.com/contribution<http://www.matronics.com/contributi
on>
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