X-Virus-Scanned: clean according to Sophos on Logan.com Return-Path: Received: from fmailhost02.isp.att.net ([207.115.11.52] verified) by logan.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.2.14) with ESMTP id 3660762 for flyrotary@lancaironline.net; Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:00:37 -0400 Received-SPF: pass receiver=logan.com; client-ip=207.115.11.52; envelope-from=bbradburry@bellsouth.net Received: from desktop (adsl-146-123-151.mco.bellsouth.net[72.146.123.151]) by isp.att.net (frfwmhc02) with SMTP id <20090602000001H0200os0a5e>; Tue, 2 Jun 2009 00:00:02 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [72.146.123.151] From: "Bill Bradburry" To: "'Rotary motors in aircraft'" References: In-Reply-To: Subject: RE: [FlyRotary] Re: Texas Round Up Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 20:00:02 -0400 Message-ID: <66F5B54C54244210AC8F6953AB78BFB8@Desktop> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 Thread-Index: AcnjCqEsmPFidROgSkmJO5vs9LkG8gACKIeQ X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.0.6001.18049 Al, I am really impressed! You didn't even mention what this did to you and your passenger's heart rate, undies, etc! :>) It is a shame that you will never get a chance to examine the door to see if you can find the failure mechanism. Do you see any damage around the door sill where the pins would have pulled out? Sounds like you kinda suspect that you might not have completely closed the latch?? When you build it back and put some warning devices in, you may want to consider some kind of cable lanyard that you can hook on it to prevent the door from opening more than maybe 6" if this happens again. Where the real danger lies in this incident would be what happened if the door had taken out your prop. The in-balance could have ripped your engine off the mount and caused the plane to go nose heavy and become uncontrollable. Perhaps you could get a seat belt inertial retractor and hook a lanyard to the door so that it can be opened slowly, but will lock if jerked up rapidly.?? Bill B -----Original Message----- From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Al Gietzen Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 7:45 PM To: Rotary motors in aircraft Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Texas Round Up Dale; That is what is used; except it has 4 pins instead of 3. I'd say that an indicator light that verifies the latch rods are fully inserted would be an easy, excellent idea. Al -----Original Message----- From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Dale Rogers Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 1:20 PM To: Rotary motors in aircraft Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Texas Round Up Al Gietzen wrote: > > ... Some years ago, the Velocity factory recommended an automatic lock > be used, similar to the passenger side door. I didn't like the design > because it took two hands to open the door; not exactly what I'd want > in an emergency. I thought my double spring over-center linkage on the > latch was the better way; and maybe was. I don't know, but I have to > leave open the possibility that I had not fully engaged the latch. > Al, Given the critical nature of the latch in this application, I wonder if a "bank vault" latch might not be a good idea. Attached is a simplified illustration of the concept. A latching handle could be constructed with a release similar to that of a console-mounted auto transmission shifter, for one-handed operation. -- Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/ Archive and UnSub: http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/flyrotary/List.html