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It's on the checklist !

VETE76

Well Known Member
Well I wondered about “what if I take off with canopy opened?” well, luckily absolutely nothing. RV7
Here's what transpired. 2 of us hanger in the same place. We were going to fly to another airport to meet up with another friend who was giving his coworker a first flight.
I got my RV started 1st and back taxied to the runway. (It's a narrow 1800' down hill private grass strip)(already on Vlad's approved grass strips) LOL, where I do my final before take off check list and engine run up. 2 places on my check list says canopy closed. And the last item on list reads canopy closed? Dummy?
And yes I closed the canopy but obviously forgot to lock it. Anyway the 2nd RV finally began to back taxi up to me. He then does his mag check, than asks me if I am ready and if is say yes he turns down the runway and takes off. When I see him lift tail I start down the runway. We climbed to 2000' and leveled out. Now we are doing 185 mph gs. He asks if I was in a hurry? Said no so we went to 100 mph as the 3rd RV we were meeting wasn't going to be there for another 30 min.
We were only 10 min away so we slowed way down. Now as soon as I land and 1st chance I feel safe I open my slider all the way. Besides it was 90 out side. As I reached for the bright RED handle and made contact with it, it just spun in a complete circle. I cant describe the feeling that comes over you when something like that happens because, luckily my brain took over and said “FLY THE PLANE!” (you can check your drawers AFTER you slow to a controlled safe stop. Its a tail dragger and I was still moving a good clip. Well it wasn't locked and was opened about 1-1/2”. In hindsight, I didn't notice anything different in the 20 min flight. So, I don't have to worry anymore about, what if...canopy.... all I can say is If you notice this on your take off or shortly after...FLY THE PLANE. (this means on take off roll if you notice an un-locked canopy, don't panic!! do you have enough runway left to safely stop. And by the time you think and make up your mind, you wont have! So fly the plane normally and fly the pattern as you always have and land, close/lock clean pants if required and DON'T do it again, you will probably. From my experience, nothing is going to happen except when you brag to your fellow RV'ers how you save your airplane etc.
Fred
 
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FRED,
That, Sir, was an outstanding debrief...thanks for the lessons-learned, and for building even more of my faith in RV designs. This is a great human factors case...
 
Fred

What model RV?

I'm considering a canopy unlatched alarm on an annunciator I'm building. Have not figured out where/how to mount a micro switch for the -8
 
Canopy Locked Light

My RV-4 (tip over) has a flashing light which signals an unlocked canopy.
 
A timely post, happened to me last week. (7a slider) I too was distracted doing final check before takeoff and yes, my check list said to lock the canopy 3 times! To make a long story short, I left it open and took off normally, but noticed an unusual amount of wind noise, reaching a top speed of about 165 knots before I realized what was going on and how stupid I am. Canopy was about 1.5 inches open. First instinct was to reach up and close it, no budge! Next was to slow down and try again all the while getting back into the pattern. As I dropped below 100 knots it slid closed and I locked it.

Two things learned. It doesn't matter if I am holding up another plane waiting to take off, it doesn't matter if it's hot out, it doesn't matter if I'm late for an appointment, pre takeoff is not the place to get lazy or sloppy! The other thing is as stated by the OP, fly the plane first!

On a side note, other than the additional noise, absolutely no difference in handling with the canopy partly open. If anyone else would care to do further test, feel free to report the results. I will refine my check list to add "DUMMY" to it.
 
-7 slider as well ---- I've always worried about this and the flight characteristics is not what I was worried about. I'm worried about the canopy completely sliding off and taking the rudder / tail with it. The lack of flight is what I always worried about. It's good to know that the pressure does keep it closed, although it would be hard to continue flying for any length of time. Paul, great feedback on the fact that you were able to close it and lock at at around 100knots. My fear would be on short final at lower speeds with would slide open and break off.
Great report. Thank you !
 
Micro switch

I have a micro switch on my 7 slider. It is wired to one of the inputs on my AFS 5600. If I push throttle up and RPMs go over 1500, I get a visual and audio warning of "canopy open". I copied the setup from someone on here a long time ago. It is on my checklist twice as well, but I would think when I start my takeoff roll, I will hear the audio.
 
RV6 Slider and flour bombing

We have dropped flour bombs and, better yet, rubber chickens, out of my RV6.
Experience shows the canopy, if held open about 3", will tend to slide forward.
We just prop it open with a small block of wood. I do keep the speed under 110mph. It gets Very noisy!
Rolf
 
My CFI purposely opened the door on our C172 a couple of times on takeoff to get me used to the commotion. I'm sure others have similar stories, but it drives home the point to just fly the plane and try to tune out the distraction.

But good to know the unlatched-canopy default mode is to close, rather than open!
 
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