donaziza
Well Known Member
I've started a couple of threads on this subject in the last 7 years. Got various answers on how one couldn't open the canopy in flight on an RV 8 due to high/low?? pressure. Paul Dye, years ago, suggested I put easy to remove "pip Pins" in the front of the canopy, where there are presently bolts with nuts. Or even to take off with them not installed at all, (the forward windscreen metal hoop would hold the canopy in place. (This I did with my old 8, and it worked fine even during acrobatics)
I had also asked Vans if they had any documentation on anyone ever bailing out of an RV 8. They said "yes", but unfortunately, the poor guy didn't have a parachute. (Obviously a fire, else why would he have done it)
So here's my question: I'd like to write Vans and see if they would be willing to sacrifice an 8 to see if one can indeed get out of the thing if one had a rip roaring fire. If one uses the "pip pins" as per Paul Dye, I'm assuming you'd only have to slide the canopy back a half inch or so, push up, and bang, that canopy is gone. Would it hurt the vertical stabilizer?? Sure, probably,---- probably put a nice dent in the upper forward leading edge of the VS, but who cares, you're leaving anyhow. Maybe there is something Vans could do in a wind tunnel test vs a real airplane.
So now the point of all this. If I'm the only one to write Vans, I think I'd probably be dismissed as "Yeah Right". But if a whole lot of us write, maybe 50 guys or so, I would think we'd have their attention. I only know RV 8's, but I would think my thinking would apply to any slider canopy, ie RV 6's etc. ( Don't know how one would deal with the "tip up" canopies.
Whadaya'all think of my idea?
I had also asked Vans if they had any documentation on anyone ever bailing out of an RV 8. They said "yes", but unfortunately, the poor guy didn't have a parachute. (Obviously a fire, else why would he have done it)
So here's my question: I'd like to write Vans and see if they would be willing to sacrifice an 8 to see if one can indeed get out of the thing if one had a rip roaring fire. If one uses the "pip pins" as per Paul Dye, I'm assuming you'd only have to slide the canopy back a half inch or so, push up, and bang, that canopy is gone. Would it hurt the vertical stabilizer?? Sure, probably,---- probably put a nice dent in the upper forward leading edge of the VS, but who cares, you're leaving anyhow. Maybe there is something Vans could do in a wind tunnel test vs a real airplane.
So now the point of all this. If I'm the only one to write Vans, I think I'd probably be dismissed as "Yeah Right". But if a whole lot of us write, maybe 50 guys or so, I would think we'd have their attention. I only know RV 8's, but I would think my thinking would apply to any slider canopy, ie RV 6's etc. ( Don't know how one would deal with the "tip up" canopies.
Whadaya'all think of my idea?
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