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I had a new experience for the first time today
that I thought I'd share with the LML.
I was climbing through about 9,000' at about 145
KIAS in my ES when my baggage door open light came on. I've seen that
periodically before and all it ever meant was that the microswitch that touches
the door needed adjusting. Today though, it was telling the truth because
within about a minute, it got pretty cold and breezy in the cabin. I
looked over my left shoulder out the rear window and sure enough, the door
was wide open.
I have some spring loaded latches on the front and
back of the baggage door and apparently, the forward one (just above where the
microswitch is located) didn't seat when I shut the door. Shortly
after it let go, the rear catch came off it's latch and the door became an
airfoil. I was quite surprised that 1) it was still there and 2) it was
totally stable- no flutter whatsoever.
I immediately pulled the nose up and reduced power
to slow as much as I could, eventually lowering my flaps and slowing to about 85
knots as I headed for the nearest place to land. When I looked back again
to see how the door was doing, it had come down and was now only open a few
inches. I cautiously sped up a little and went to about half flaps and the
door opened further as the flaps came up. I could change the door's
position up or down simply by changing my flap setting. In all positions,
the door was completely stable and exhibited no adverse pitch or yaw that I
could feel. Pretty amazing. Ultimately, I settled on about half flaps and 120 KIAS as I
descended for what was an uneventful landing. Postflight inspection
revealed absolutely no damage to the door or hinges. I'm feelin'
pretty lucky right now!
I'd always wondered what would happen if that door
came open, so I was quite pleased and relieved to learn that it was pretty much
a non-event (though I'm not anxious to have it happen at a much higher
speed).
Skip Slater
N540ES
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