Extra 330 canopy opens in flight • pilot shares lessons learned on YouTube (occurred 2022, Europe)

[Garfly]

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VjkCfSopEI

 

Incident around 06:10

 

 

DESCRIPTION:

"Couple of years ago during my second training flight on a very hot summer day, the canopy of the Extra 330LX that I was flying opened in flight and shattered.

As you can see from the video, it was a challenging experience that could have been avoided if I had made a proper visual check before taking off.

The canopy locking pin had never gone into the locked position, and I failed to notice it during my checks.

I also made the mistake of going to the training camp right after recovering from COVID, without allowing my body enough time to fully regain strength.

Additionally, flying without any eye protection made the flight even more challenging than it already was. The flight was a distressing experience, filled with noise, breathing difficulties, and impaired visibility. It took me nearly 28 hours to fully recover my vision.

Aerodynamically, I’ve experienced some buffet and controllability challenges. Probably the most difficult part was to keep the power in, thus trading my vision and breathing for kinetic energy.

Although due to all the noise it was difficult to hear what my coach was saying on the radio, one thing I've heard loud and clear "just keep flying"

If you are a pilot watching this, I hope that my story serves as a cautionary tale and that you will learn from my mistake.

I regret that it took me so long to share this video footage. It's not easy to put my vulnerabilities out there for you all to see.

However, I have come to realisze how important it is to be transparent about our shortcomings and the lessons we learn along the way.

To all my fellow pilots out there, fly safe."

[Marty_d]

She did extremely well.

[skippydiesel]

5 hours ago, Marty_d said:

She did extremely well.

She certainly did.

 

Interesting that the canopy latching system is not connected, through an inhibitor/safety switch, to the ignition system. The switches are very simple & cheap - every ride on mower has them.

[Area-51]

There is a big red mark to line the canopy release handle with; it doesn't get any more simple than that...

 

Preflight check failure and brown pants moment... Lesson delivered.

[Garfly]

Another, generously provided lesson to learn from. (And another pre-flight checklist lapse.) 

 

 

 

 

 

[Garfly]

And another mea culpa vid urging us to take "Hatches, harnesses secure"  seriously.

 

 

 

 

[nathanc]

On 24/6/2024 at 9:39 PM, skippydiesel said:

She certainly did.

 

Interesting that the canopy latching system is not connected, through an inhibitor/safety switch, to the ignition system. The switches are very simple & cheap - every ride on mower has them.

Would you ever want any inhibitor system associated with the ignition? (Or even start)

 

What if this was to fail, disrupting ignition, or preventing an air restart just at the wrong moment?

[Garfly]

13 hours ago, nathanc said:

Would you ever want any inhibitor system associated with the ignition? (Or even start)

 

What if this was to fail, disrupting ignition, or preventing an air restart just at the wrong moment?

Maybe an unmissable "DOOR" warning light on the dash, then - at least for those side (or rear) hinged canopy types. 

In any case, all these caught-on-cam incidents make it super clear that flying the plane and staying calm(ish) are top priorities when chaos breaks out aloft.

 

 

 

Edited July 26 by Garfly

[skippydiesel]

My thanks & commendations to the brave pilots who swallowed their pride & embarrassment, to give all of us a strong reminder of how important checklists are.

 

A further checklist reminder -

 

If interrupted: RESTART THAT SECTION FROM THE BEGINNING 

 

NEVER DO YOUR CHECKS ON THE MOVE especially in a twitchy little aircraft like a Sonex

 

Inhibitor Switches

Generally fail open. This can be pretty much guaranteed by selecting a design that opens rather than closes (the circuit) when condition safe.  So in the Sonex example the engine start circuit would be disabled until the canopy fully closed/latched.

A guarded override switch could be wired in, for any inflight failure of the inhibitor switch.

Garefly "DOOR" warning light , is an excellent variation on the theme.

 

Comments on the two video:

 

Fuel Starvation

No mention of a Boost Pump which should have had the capacity to reprime the fuel system in under 2 minutes (maybe?). There was mention of a pump but most likly continuous run pump.

 

Sonex Hatch

I fly a Sonex -

My latch is diffrent (it's on the pilot side) to the one featured however the plans call for a latch that fails open rather than closed. The hatch is quite flexible, when not fully latched/secure. The movement could spring the latch. The latching mechanism faces forward, I feel, it should face back, so that any tendency to open increases rather than reduces security, as air pressure pushes the canopy back.

 

The other very simple solution is to have a canopy that opens forward - this would mean that air blast would keep it closed, if there was a failure to latch/lock.

 

It would have been a difficult time for the pilot  - Sonex are designed to airobat, so are not as stable as most aircraft. Having to let go the controls and move his body weight would have instigated some interesting departures from straight & level.

 

 

Edited August 1 by skippydiesel