Wow, that’s an amazing story Al. Glad that no harm came to yourself and the airplane is repairable.

I’ve had the door come open on my machine as well with gull-wing doors; other than the initial shock, a non-event in this case with a high wing airplane; the door just floats up and down an inch or two. I thought it might slam up into the wing bottom (fuel tank) but it does not. Of course I’m not travelling at 170 knots either. In order to stop this from happening again I installed a secondary slide latch … simple and crude but functional.

Anyway, good luck with the repairs.

Jeff

 

 

 

Chris; et. al.,

 

Of course I was very disappointed not to make the fly-in, and other stops planned on the trip.  But I don’t want anyone to be alarmed – I’m fine, and I flew the plane back home today with an improvised door.

 

We were about an hour out, cruising happily along at 9500’ and 170 KTAS, when suddenly there was a noise and lots of wind blowing and the pilot side door was gone.  I have no idea why it came unlatched – I had a double detent spring which had always kept it solidly in the latched position.

 

It took only a few moments to determine that the plane was controllable (meaning the door had departed), and that there was no prop vibration meaning there was no prop damage. With a few moments to adapt to the new aerodynamics; it was a matter of flying to the nearest airport about 10 miles away.  Only when we got there, we found it was a small strip (looked like dirt, although I found later it was paved) in the middle of the desert with no structures of any kind anywhere in sight.  Since the plane was flying stably, I decided to head off to another (L77) about 20 miles away; and made a normal landing. No airport facilities other than the strip, but it is right off I-10, and there was a gas station and a café.

 

Upon landing we noted that the rear window on the passenger side had a large hole in it. Apparently as the door ripped off it was swung over the top, and the strake extension slammed into the window; and the door subsequently bounced clear of prop. The prop had a couple of marks on it apparently made by pieces of the plexiglass from the window.

 

The plane was about 150 miles from home.  The initial decision was to come back with truck and trailer, disassemble, load up and return to the hangar.  But after checking rental rates, and making schedules, and realizing the implications of over-size load with requirements for pilot vehicles front and back, etc.; I decided to fabricate a temporary door with 5/8” plywood, with ¼” plexiglass for a window; and fly the plane back to the home airport. 

 

My friend and I went back yesterday, and did just that.  It is a shame to mess up such a beautiful plane, but I’ll share with you what the temp door looked like; perhaps we can find some humor in this otherwise minor disaster.  We removed the weather stripping, and screwed everything solidly to the door flange.  It was solid as a rock and served very well.  We also closed the broken window by bolting on a formica patch.

 

Certainly not the trip we planned; but s__t happens.  I’ll start thinking about repairs in a few days. It will be like new again soon, and with a fool-proof locking latch.

 

Al

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Christopher Barber
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 3:44 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Texas Round Up

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Bob Perkinson

To: Rotary motors in aircraft

Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 12:15 AM

Subject: [FlyRotary] Texas Round Up

 

Well I guess that the list is silent because everyone is headed to Texas.  Send Pictures.

Bob Perkinson