Craig Blitzer wrote:

Here is an interesting question -

The two latches on my LIV-P work fine, have for almost a year now.  Go for a 50 minute flight, plane sits on very hot ramp for approx. 1-1/2 hours.

Get ready to leave and the 2nd set of latches, will not close all the way.  Cab get them closed about 90% but I can feel that the latches will not "click" to the closed position.

The door seal WAS DEFLATED during my attempts to close the 2nd group of latches.

My only thought is some type of heat expansion?? As soon as we landed I deflated door seal and the latches now all closed fine.  If it was heat expansion, the skin of the plane would have cooled from the flight home right???

I an anxious to try again on a hot day but this time I will use my canopy cover and see if that helps.

Any other thoughts or experiences?

 

Craig, I think you should figure this out before flying pressurized without all of the latches firmly latched "over center." At least a couple of owners are around to tell the tale of what it's like to lose a door in flight. Some may not have been that lucky. The adjustment of these can be pretty tricky, but it can be done. I installed a small micro switch at the "end" of each chain (front and rear edges of the door, and bottom—three total) to monitor the "over center" of the last latch, thinking that if that one went over center, the rest would likely be fully latched as well.

 

Bob Pastusek