Look Ma, No Doors!

[FlyingMonkey]

Flew today with the doors off for the first time.  Getting the doors off was a bit of hassle because the pins didn't want to come out, but not too bad.  I greased them for next time.

The airplane flew pretty much the same, it did take some extra power to reach the same speeds, but not a huge amount.  I flew up to 85kt, but really any speeds more than about 70kt was uncomfortable due to the wind.  I kept at 0° or 15° the whole time.  I wish I'd has some goggles over my glasses, the wind blasted around the lenses and into my eyes occasionally.

The only handling quirk was that in turns the airplane seemed to turn easier, and the nose had a tendency to drop more in the turns.  I'm assuming that is just an artifact of the different drag profile the airplane has with nothing to keep air flowing from side to side.

Overall, I probably won't do this often, but I can see it as fun thing to do couple times a year on super hot days when flying low around the patch.    

 

 

 

 

[Roger Lee]

Told you it was like a hurricane inside with the doors off.

[FlyingMonkey]

27 minutes ago, Roger Lee said:

Told you it was like a hurricane inside with the doors off.

Ha, it was brisk but not crazy.  My iPad mount took it like a champ. I was a little concerned about it, but it didn't even move.  Everything loose was removed before the flight so it didn't all fly away.

[j0nathan225]

Nice!

[FredG]

Andy, thanks for the video.  Looks like a hoot.

[WmInce]

Thanks for the video and report, Andy.

[Roger Lee]

You're telling me "Ha" and you want goggles and removed all things that could blow out and didn't like anything over 70 knots.

I've been there that's why I know it's just too darn windy.

 

Cockpit hurricane. 

[FlyingMonkey]

16 hours ago, Roger Lee said:

You're telling me "Ha" and you want goggles and removed all things that could blow out and didn't like anything over 70 knots.

I've been there that's why I know it's just too darn windy.

 

Cockpit hurricane. 

Depends on what you are trying to do.  Some friends often fly over a local lake at low level (no wires or obstacles, or buildings/people in the area), at pretty low speeds.  For that mission the no doors config would be tough to beat for fun factor.  Especially in July & August!

[Ed Cesnalis]

43 minutes ago, FlyingMonkey said:

Depends on what you are trying to do.  Some friends often fly over a local lake at low level (no wires or obstacles, or buildings/people in the area), at pretty low speeds.  For that mission the no doors config would be tough to beat for fun factor.  Especially in July & August!

In the distant pass I did a bunch of low level flying, counting grebes on Mono Lake in my Skyhawk and I used flaps.  Today I would rethink that.  In my CT I like to be clean and not too slow. I find the CT to be quite maneuverable at a higher speed because I've always been inclined to bank it steeper.

[FlyingMonkey]

1 hour ago, Ed Cesnalis said:

In the distant pass I did a bunch of low level flying, counting grebes on Mono Lake in my Skyhawk and I used flaps.  Today I would rethink that.  In my CT I like to be clean and not too slow. I find the CT to be quite maneuverable at a higher speed because I've always been inclined to bank it steeper.

With the doors off, it's hard to keep the airplane under 80kt at 0°, you end up running about 3600rpm, which is too low for my tastes.  At 15° flaps you can get ~75kt at around 4000rpm.

I find that the CT is *great* at low speed maneuvering, at either 0° or 15°.  It keeps good turn rate and stall resistance down to about 52kt, below that it definitely starts to get soft.  I would not be doing steep turns at low level at those speeds, but I have done normal rate turns as down to 60kt at with no problems.  I tested this at altitude, and found the nice thing about the CT, is in a coordinated turning stall the nose just starts to fall straight down.  Add power and/or ease the stick back pressure  and it picks back up and starts flying again.  Very predictable near the limits.  With a well-calibrated AoA indicator, keeping the CT flying at low speed would be even easier.

I agree Ed that flying the CT when it has plenty of airspeed is great, it's very agile and doesn't run out of energy too fast either due to the slippery airframe.

[Buckaroo]

I like your hot hula girl!?

[FlyingMonkey]

27 minutes ago, Buckaroo said:

I like your hot hula girl!?

"Precision Turbulence Indicator"  

[Runtoeat]

Andy, cool video.  You're one of the fortunate ones who has a CT that came with removable doors.  FD stopped doing this.  My friend Phil is another lucky one.  The foot in the door opening is Phil's,  He was right at home since he's an old helicopter pilot.  I made the mistake of pointing to a landmark while doing this.  The slipstream almost pulled my arm out of socket!  I also give the hula gal a 10.

 

[cdarza]

Awesome.  Thanks for posting the video.   That sure looks like a lot of fun.  Aside from the CTSW, i also fly a Super Drifter.  Nothing like having that wind in your face and that feeling of being out in the open. 

 

[FlyingMonkey]

16 hours ago, Runtoeat said:

Andy, cool video.  You're one of the fortunate ones who has a CT that came with removable doors.  FD stopped doing this.  My friend Phil is another lucky one.  The foot in the door opening is Phil's,  He was right at home since he's an old helicopter pilot.  I made the mistake of pointing to a landmark while doing this.  The slipstream almost pulled my arm out of socket!  I also give the hula gal a 10.

 

Dick, I enjoyed flying that way, but as I said it will probably be a once or twice a year thing.  It's a slight PITA to get the doors off, and the conditions have to be just right to make it worth it.  I'm sure I will get the itch again though.  It sure would be a cool thing to fly that way over Lake Powell at the CT fly-in...

I stuck my arm into the slipstream to see how strong it was.  Answer:  strong.  

And I will get some goggles to fit over my glasses for next time.  The wind blast in my eyes was the only uncomfortable part.  I could lean to the middle of the cockpit and cut it out though.

[WmInce]

Andy,

As tough, getting the doors back on?

[FlyingMonkey]

10 minutes ago, WmInce said:

Andy,

As tough, getting the doors back on?

No, the only thing that made them hard coming off is the pins had never been out of the hinges and they were a bit bound up.  Getting them out cost me some skin on my hands.  Once they were out, I greased them before putting them back in, so it should be easier next time.  Also, make sure to disconnect the gas strut from the fuselage side first, BEFORE pulling the pins!  I didn't do that on the first door, and once one pin was out the strut tried to torque the door and made it a real bitch.  I had a good hold on it so no damage done, but if you were not careful I could see the potential for bending a hinge.  The strut pushes harder than you'd think.

The doors are very light, maybe 5lb each.  They are easy to pick up and move around, you just have to be careful not to bang them against other stuff, they are a little bulky. 

Bill, did you check to see if you have the removable pins?

[ls6pilot]

Andy, what do your pins look like? Could you post a photo?

[FlyingMonkey]

1 hour ago, ls6pilot said:

Andy, what do your pins look like? Could you post a photo?

I don't have pics handy, will get some next time I'm at the airport.  The pins are straight through the hinge, then turn 90° and have a little loop at the end.  The pins are retained with small wire circular clips.  The clips are just about impossible to get off and back on gracefully, so I replaced them with very small cotter pins for retention.  

[Roger Lee]

If you have a pin it has a cotter pin through it otherwise all you have is hinges that aren't removable.

[sandpiper]

Here's what I have on my 2007 CTSW.

[FlyingMonkey]

John, those are the removable ones like I have.