Jump to content

Door opened during flight


wlfpckrs

Recommended Posts

For the first time after 4.5 years of flying my CTsw, I had the pilot-side door open in flight. Totally my fault. I forgot to latch it. On International Learn To Fly Day, I took a half-dozen people flying. I brag about using a checklist, but sometime between shuttling passengers in and out of my plane, turning the engine on and off, and giving everyone instructions, I forgot to latch my door. Just after takeoff, but too late to just drop back to the runway, my door popped open. That'll get the juices flowing! Slowing down the plane (but not too much), continuing to fly it, and trying to pull the open door shut with a harness on are not easy things to do all at once. I was finally able to reach out, grab the back side of the door, pull it shut and latch it.

 

I then calmly said to my passenger, "That wasn't supposed to be part of the show." If she was nervous, she didn't show it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Confession is good for the soul :D

 

I departed Van Nuys last year, northbound out of the Los Angles basin, a pretty serious place to be for a mountain guy like me. I had not latched the passenger door but i did lock it. I was solo and it didn't open until i was climbing out.

 

The lock held and it wasn't a big event, i din't bother to turn on the auto pilot, i just waited for good clearance from everything and slid/stretched over and latched the door. After sliding back i did the unusual attitude recovery and flew home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would have happened to me however during the run up I noticed the pilot side door vibrate. I fly from the right and missed it in pre-flight. Since then unless I'm getting in or out the door is LOCKED!

 

al meyer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would have happened to me however during the run up I noticed the pilot side door vibrate. I fly from the right and missed it in pre-flight. Since then unless I'm getting in or out the door is LOCKED!

 

al meyer

 

Can you open a locked door from the inside without a key? For safety egress reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Jim,

No you can't. The door has positive locking pins for its normal operations and that is all you should use during a flight. The lock on the outside with the key is mainly just to secure it while it is on the ground from unwanted entry.. Our doors when closed in flight with the handle pushed all the way forward will absolutely not open during a flight. If a door does come open during a flight it will be operator error. The locking of the door in flight is right on the pre-flight check on the dash.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't ask my question well.

 

If one locks a door with the key from the outside and then walks around and gets in the airplane through the other door, can the key-locked door be opened from the inside?

NO... at least not in my CTSW...

tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...