DonFromTX
Well Known Member
There is no carbon fiber up there, only fiberglass. The attach bolt is actually going thru the aluminum canopy frame, but since it is to be left loose and only going thru support on one side, it is not an ideal attachment.
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I think any engineer would want both metal rod ends and a through bolt at the top end. The current design is simply going to fail at some point due to the plastic rod ends breaking out at the top end when the canopy is allowed to open without restraint or in a wind/prop blast that is going to happen sometime in the life of the bird. Even with a metal rod end at the top there will someday be a failure of the screw through the carbon fiber on only one side up there. Van's airplanes are such masterly designed airplanes it's hard to understand how the canopy strut design was allowed in the plan.
EBB