Inadvertant canopy opening in Evektor Sportstar

[docjell]

Great to hear it Martin - enjoy and welcome!

 

 

[Guernsey]

Arhh- harden up and fly trikes- we fly with the canopy and doors open all the time:laugh:

Does this mean that if you are wearing a helmet, you fly with the visor up and remove your headset???

 

Alan Marriette.

 

 

[Thruster87]

Yes, apparently a 601 lost control when the canopy popped open. Only hearsay, I havn't seen a report on it. A retaining strap can be put in to hold it down should the latch let go.In low wings a great deal of lift is generated by the shape of the canopy, in cross section being a thick cambered airfoil. The resulting negative pressure is sufficient to 'suck' the canopy up untill it reaches a point where the dynamic pressure (the airflow hitting it) balances out the negative pressure and it floats in that spot. This is why people have such a hard time getting the canopy down in these circumstances.

The other issue is the disrupted airflow over the tail section. Propellor slipstream and relative airflow can be disturbed to the point where the rudder and elevator may loose all authority, causing a pitching down which increases the speed and therefor the negative pressure zone above the canopy, forcing it to open further.

 

If it happens to you, fly the aeroplane and get you pax to hold it down as best he/she can and slow down, not to the stall speed, but a slow cruise speed. By reducing the airspeed you will be reducing the reaction thats holding the canopy open and may allow you to shut it, but dont struggle around in the cockpit if its not closing.

 

Open all the vents you can, you want the pressure inside to be as close to the pressure outside as possible. Imagine closeing a car door when no windows are down.

 

You should still be able to do a normal approach and landing, perhaps a few knots quicker than normal to ensure elevator and rudder effectiveness. Be wary when lowering flap, the change in attitude could help or hinder the situation.

 

One of our members had the canopy open during flight and the above is some of the briefing we developed in response to that incident. Check the flight manual or ask your instructor about the particular aircraft you fly.

 

601xl POH

 

6. Check that your canopy closes and latches properly on both sides. If in doubt, add a

 

secondary latching system as recommended by the Australian CAA. If your canopy does

 

open in flight, keep your hands on the controls, lower your speed to approximately 60

 

knots, keep flying the aircraft and land as soon as practicable.

 

WARNING: Do not try to close the canopy in flight: Fly the aircraft!

[motzartmerv]

Thanx thruster, thats why I said get your Pax to try and close it...;)

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

Does this mean that if you are wearing a helmet, you fly with the visor up and remove your headset???Alan Marriette.

:laugh:Go naked if you like!- believe it or not, in the early trike days no one wore helmets or had fancy radio stuff, or skydats or anything except a spluttering oily 447. Ahhh how times have changed, a good pair of sunnies was all we had- cool!

 

 

[AV8A]

I've had a door come open on a C150 as I rotated and as metalman said; the increased noise gives you a hell of a fright, especially in the dark! Fortunately I had a long runway in front of me

I was having Dejavue - a little old C150 at Avalon use to do this to me all the time!

 

 

[Guernsey]

I was having Dejavue - a little old C150 at Avalon use to do this to me all the time!

Perhaps it didn't like you and was inviting you to get out:roflmao:

Alan.

 

 

[AV8A]

Perhaps it didn't like you and was inviting you to get out:roflmao:Alan.

Herbie Lives!

 

Should of taken it as a sign of things to come!

 

 

[kiwiaviator]

Can anyone shine light on the official line with opening the canopy in flight in a Tecnam P2002 ? I did it for the first time today due to the summer weather. Yes NZ gets warm too What a buzz! My daughter had a grin from ear to ear as well. Noticed a bit of extra drag however no adverse effects. Was doing about 95 knots and it wasn't too difficult to close the canopy prior to landing. Tecnams official line seems to be its OK however after a bit of googling I have found some information that says no way and if you do, there should be a 10cm restraining strap attached. I would like to do this again but would like to read others experiences.

 

 

[dazza 38]

Dunno about the P2002 but in the P96 Golf.It can be opened, I think from memory the max airspeed is about 60Kts or something like that. I have never done it myself.

 

It will be in the aircrafts flight manual, I think.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Can someone please post a photograph of the Evektor aircraft type which had the canopy open please. . . . I want to see if it's similar to the Eurostar marketed in the UK, which is also made by Evektor. . . . as it certainly sounds very similar, and I'm certain my friend Mike Smith, our CFI has no idea about this feature, OR what to do if it occurs. . . . . the subject has never come up

 

Phil

 

*********** Edited to add (later) this is very similar to the "Sportcruiser" made by TL Aviation in the Czech Rep. So it isn't really THAT similar to a Eurostar . . . . but I guess a similar aerodynamic challenge may exist if the canopy pops. . . . . . *************

 

Apologies for over-use of the word "Similar" ( vocabularically challenged )

 

 

[Virago]

I had the main door open on rotation in my Beech Debonair. Biggest problem was that it was a night flight from a relatively short runway (Serpentine, W.A.). Aborting was hardly an option and I had to let training kick in which meant ignoring the wind and noise and flying on instruments to 500 feet. Fortunately, I had read up on "door open" flight characteristics (both Baron and Deb/Bonanza) after reading of a family of five who perished in the UK after having having the main door open on rotation in a Beech Baron. The pilot had radioed that he was trying to shut the door and he lost control of the aircraft. It wasn't fun but I flew to Jandakot (about 15 minutes) and shut it late in the landing roll. The cause of the incident was that I allowed myself to be distracted after closing and locking the door. A club member had come over to tell me something and I had opened the door to converse and had then shut the door without latching it. Distractions are dangerous. John.

 

 

[kaz3g]

I was having Dejavue - a little old C150 at Avalon use to do this to me all the time!

You shouldn't have been looping it, then!

 

Kaz:hurry up:

 

 

[naremman]

You shouldn't have been looping it, then!Kaz:hurry up:

They can do it in the horizontal plane too Kaz. Got conned into taking a C150 streamer cutting at ALACs a few years ago. The placard said OK to 4.4g but the door had a habit of popping a fair way before that. Was certainly aware of the burble going down the fuse and over the tailplane.

 

Any certified aircraft has had to be demonstrated with all anticipated outcomes.The test pilots have done all the hard work. Keep your head and fly the aircraft.

 

After 37 tears flying an Airtourer I don't have any concerns re the canopy. 30% of the lift comes from the canopy according to the good late Dr Millicer, and the only position that it wants to adopt in flight is very firmly closed. It can only be opened sub 70 Knots, and then with difficulty, with farmer type biceps an added advantage.

 

 

[dlps73]

From my own perspective I've had two incidences, the first due to a rushed pre-flight where the canopy opened approximately five minutes after take off - it was noisy initially and whilst I kept the speed to <80 knots there was very little degradation of flight control, I could hold the canopy down with one hand but was unable to lock it, the landing was quite normal.

 

The second when the passenger pulled on the canopy latch instead of the Kroger sunshade. This time, with two people, it was very simple to re-lock it.

 

From my experience the canopy didn't fly up, there was the initial noise and then it gradual raises itself - quite benign and very easy to push back down.

 

Cheers..........Doug

 

 

[jwn57030]

I had a very similar experience a couple of months back in a similar model plane, a Gobosh 700s. Not sure if the canopy locking mechanism is exactly the same, but both have canopies that rotate up from the front. One big difference in my situation is that it was partially caused by the aircraft design but overall it was pilot error and my inexperience. My experience was even better because it was on one of my solo's as a student pilot. On the gobosh when it gets really cold the canopy tends to warp and becomes very difficult to align correctly with the fuselage when closing and locking. I am sure the left side was locked correctly, but looking back I am pretty sure the locking mechanism was not seated correctly or only partially seated on the right side and I did not spot it before I took off. Since I knew it was cold I even pushed against the top of the canopy during my run up to be sure it would not open. I however did not push on the left or right side to make sure both locks were in place.

 

So I took off and about 5 minutes out of the airport I started to feel that rush of air. Out of the right side of my eye I spotted sunlight coming through where there shouldn't be. I turned my head and I could see about a 1-2 inch gap between the canopy and fuselage. I looked to the left and saw the same thing. As with the story above my canopy was being held 1-2 inches above the fuselage by the lower air pressure. Immediately I tried to close the canopy as well but realized the air pressure would not allow that. So after my second of initial panic I returned to flying the plane and took a second to think. I did not know if it was an urgent situation/emergency or not. So I decided to call Pan-pan to be on the safe side, and the controller cleared to me land at the runway I had just taken off from. Not knowing how the canopy would react to the forces on it while being open I slowly turned around and reduced my speed in hopes of reducing forces acting on it. I slowly came back to the airport and did the second softest landing I've ever done to prevent the canopy from bouncing. I didn't notice when because I was focused on landing the plane, but the canopy had settled back down and was sitting on the fuselage normally. I assume as I slowed down in my round out and flare the canopy slowly settled back down.

 

Thinking about it afterwards I did realize it probably was not that unsafe as part of the published procedures for emergency landing include opening the canopy before touch down. So it was designed as well to be able to fly with the canopy open.

 

 

[rdarby]

Sounds like you really handled it well. Well done.