What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Unlocked canopy?

FNG

Member
I was wondering what would be the affect of an unlocked canopy in flight?

Would someone abort at high speed for this?

Has anyone tried flying wi the canopy slightly opened?

I?m new to RV ?s. I just bought an RV 9A with a slider.

Thanks

Tom
 
Typically, sliders will move aft a few inches and stop there. I've read here that it is difficult to intentionally move the canopy further aft than that.

FLY THE AIRPLANE! I would not "high speed abort" but deal with it after safely airborne and at a safe altitude.
 
Yes
It will bind up due to lift.
Fly the plane.
Keep the speed down, fly the pattern, land, fix, resume.
 
Tested. Opens about 2-3 inches from takeoff unlatched at climb speed.

Very hard to move. Did NOT see what force further opening requires, but it would not close at full throttle and even just 80 knots.

From a few knots above stall nice and high out of pattern, idle then hand on latch as unloading a bit with fwd elevator.

Latched with same effort as normal, recover.

Would suggest Pip pins at the forward rollers as jettison devices if wearing a chute in a slider.
 
Yes
It will bind up due to lift.
Fly the plane.
Keep the speed down, fly the pattern, land, fix, resume.

I've experienced this and this is exactly the advice I would give. Yes, you might be able to move it if you slow down to just above stall speed, but why take the risk? Just continue around the pattern, land, then deal with it.
 
I had this happen once when I failed to completely get the latch seated due to some newer weatherstripping I had installed on the slider's bow.

Of course, it has to happen when I'm doing some formation flying and either #2 or 3 of a 4-ship takeoff...

Sudden wind noise as the canopy moved aft 3-6"...I can't remember, exactly...

FLY THE AIRPLANE!

Other than the distraction, it's a non-event.

I called lead that I was out of the rejoin and pulled up into a gentle closed to pattern altitude on downwind to either sort things out or land... approximately 75-80 KIAS or so...can't remember, exactly.

Tried to "freehand" it with one hand on downwind, but couldn't get develop the leverage to get it moving, so I put the autopilot on ("LEVEL" button works great for this), got everything stabilized airspeed-wise (80KIAS) and then (with TWO hands) reached over my head and forcefully brought the canopy forward. Got a GOOD latch (with a tug to make sure) and called lead to say I was back to resuming my now-dorked-up rejoin...

Emergency over.

Plan B or no autopilot? If I couldn't close it, then leave it alone, land and sort it out on the ground.

Not that big a deal, in retrospect and did not affect controllability in any fashion.
 
Last edited:
I remember discussing this sort of thing (same subject but not RV related) with one of the owners of the flight school where I did my private.

Should you abort? Should you turn back? Yada yada yada.

He laughed and in his thick texas accent he said 'son, if you're ever in a plane and something happens and you think you gotta do something about it right now, first thing you should do is sit down and smoke cigarette and think about it for a while.' Fly the plane, land and fix it.
 
Speed is not your friend, here.

Groundspeed of zero is fine.

OP seemed to want to know what happens, not the what to do part.

I don't know if an A model could open before rotation. My taildragger did not. Not sure abort comes into play.

Flew just fine up to 110 knots in a climb.

Not much added noise or wind. Could not guess how it might factor for smoke clearing.
 
Last edited:
Speed is not your friend, here.

Groundspeed of zero is fine.

OP seemed to want to know what happens, not the what to do part.

I don't know if an A model could open before rotation. My taildragger did not. Not sure abort comes into play.

Flew just fine up to 110 knots in a climb.

Not much added noise or wind. Could not guess how it might factor for smoke clearing.
If you could get the canopy open in the event of a fire, the increased air flow would probably feed the fire and turn the fire into a blowtorch.
 
Don't ask me how I know this. If you were to take off with the canopy closed but unlocked, the noise level gets louder with airspeed increases. if you miss that sutle clue, and if you have a carbon monoxide detector, it will start making even more noise. Why you might ask, well my friends, it seems that the cockpit inflight becomes a low pressure area, therefore it tends suck the canopy down with some amount of force. That force combined with the up sloping T-rail the back of the canopy has to climb to move aft is beyond the strength of most mere mortals. How did I determine this? I am a college graduate with a History degree. That degree and the smell of exhaust and the aforementioned carbon monoxide detector going off were clues not lost on me. Now the important part, ignore the unlocked canopy, it anin't going nowhere, nohow (history degree). Fly the aircraft to a safe altitude, trim for level flight a reasonable power setting, then use both hands, one on the handle and the other to push up and forward on the canopy. You probably won't get into the full locked position on the first try, but turn the handle if it partially catches to mechanically move the canopy slightly forward, The next try will most likely be sucessful. Dan from Reno
 
I have a tip-up, but the advice is probably equally applicable to sliders:

Ignore it
Slow down to a reasonable airspeed (no need to go blasting around at Vno :))
Land
Shut it

Ask me how I know this :)

Don't go mucking around in flight with it...good way to get distracted and turn an annoyance into an actual emergency.
 
A really close friend, we'll call him Joe, looked up one day in cruise (in a slider) and noticed the latch wasn't engaged. The canopy was fully closed but not latched. It didn't open on it's own on takeoff or climb out - just sat there in the closed position. Flew just fine to the destination (about 10 minutes away) and was no big deal. Didn't try to open it and didn't try to latch it either.

FWIW.

Dan
 
Thanks for all the informative replies. It will fly safe with an unlatched canopy...that?s good information.
 
Always, Always - Fly the airplane. Have a tip up. I?ll admit to making this dumb mistake. Forgot to close and lock canopy. Noise was increasing on takeoff but I?ll also admit to being a little slow on the uptake. Fifty feet off the ground finally figured it out. Had plenty of runway in front so settled it back down with still plenty of room to taxi.

My real recommendation is to continue your reduced speed climb out and return to airport for a normal landing. Don?t try to do anything to address the issue other than keeping your speed down for a safe landing. Canopy not an issue. Will not open further.
 
I had this happen to me in a -7A. Canopy didn't open all that far - just enough to make a lot of wind noise. Got squared away, set up for landing and while on downwind experimented with trying to close it. Had to slow down to almost stall to do it - got it latched in front, but the air pressure in the cabin had spread the sides of the canopy enough that the rear pins rode on the outside of the blocks, leaving a noticeable air gap.

Fixed it once on the ground. No damage, thankfully.
 
Don't try this at home...

I can tell you that a RV-8 slider can become unlatched in normal flight but it will not open due to air loads. However, I had one come unlatched at the kick point in a hammerhead turn once and the canopy went all the way back! :eek: I had just enough time to grab my hat with one hand and the canopy with the other and get it closed before the plane accelerated on the down line.
 
Great info there guys, always wondered what would happen if my 8 canopy gave me more noise than I needed! :) best advice as given, fly the plane!

Even though the following doesn't apply to the Vans machines the effects does. I've had two doors fly open whilst just getting airborne in my flying career. To say it frightened the poo out of me is an understatement! Once in a C310Q, opened only a couple of inches but the noise was very distracting just after lift off. I flew the plane first then dealt with the female passenger sitting beside me, she was terrified! Second time was in a PA31, just rotated with a full ship & the lower half of the main cabin door dropped down, poor woman sitting opposite the door screamed louder than the 700 HP just outside the cabin! As a side note the handling of the Chieftan on App with the door hanging down was very difficult! Shook the control column like I'd never felt before! I landed, for some reason that woman refused to get back on the plane after an engineer fixed a sloppy latch!:)
 
Back
Top