REFLECTOR: Unexpected door opening

Brian Michalk michalk at awpi.com
Tue Jun 2 21:45:15 CDT 2009


I was thinking about this today.

The latched door certainly carries a lot of force through that area.  If
the door were unlatched, and the plane nosed in, then I would guess that
the keel would buckle right at the control stick opening, and the nose
would fold up near the bottom front of the door opening.  The thin
overhead portion of the fuselage would compress and fail, or the front
window would shatter, allowing the nose to rotate into the cabin.  The
instrument panel would come back to meet your head.

In my incident, the keel buckled at the control stick cutout, and the
right door was pushed in.  The pins were bent, and there was zero
probability of opening that door after the crash.  I had to cut parts
out to get the door off.  My left door had almost no damage, and opened
easily.

I would not suggest opening the door before a crash.  If it's a low
damage crash I think the door will generally be okay.  If there is going
to be significant deceleration along the roll axis, that door will keep
the cabin intact, transferring energy into the wings and other parts of
the frame.

So on one the left hand, the latched door keeps the cabin intact, but it
could trap you inside.
On the right hand, an open door compromises the cabin, but allows for
escape.

If one is trapped inside, and had a hammer for the purpose, then out the
front window is an option.  Rescuers on the outside will most likely not
have anything to use to break a window.

I think the odds are better keeping the doors latched.

KMis178813 at aol.com wrote:
> Al
>   Glad to hear that you are OK. I was also taught to unlatch the door
> before landing off airport. But there is no way I would do that in a
> Velo. I have seen several Velocity's that had other than perfect
> landings and it appears that the door being latched maintains the
> integrity of the tube we fly. It seems that from the canard bulkhead
> forward and the firewall aft are expendable as long as the cockpit stays
> intact during a incident. Every pilot should make there own decision in
> such a situation. For some other reason, you would be making a off
> airport landing adding a unlatched door in the mix just sounds life
> altering. Explaining to passengers how to get the door open is a whole
> lot easier than it will be for someone to tell their family what
> happened to the door!!!   FWIW
>      Ken
>   
>    PS  Door ajar lights as Chuck described are now normal on most every
> Velo build!
>  
>  
> In a message dated 6/2/2009 6:04:19 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> ALVentures at cox.net writes:
> 
>     The lock pin was designed to require two hands so
> 
>     you can not accidently open it or a passenger can not grab the handle in
> 
>     a panic and open the door. 
> 
>      
> 
>     Yes, I understand.  Perhaps it’s stretching the point, but I recall
>     being taught that in the event of an off-airport landing, one should
>     always unlatch the door before you hit the ground to reduce the risk
>     of being trapped by a jammed door.  And perhaps it doesn’t apply to
>     our airplanes, but if I’m landing the plane on a hillside, letting
>     go of the stick at the last moment while I get the door unlatched
>     doesn’t seem appropriate.
> 
>      
> 
>     I've never seen Al's new passenger latch with a button, but I hope they
> 
>     can't easily do it with one hand. 
> 
>      
> 
>     I can reach across and do it; but it would take some practice for
>     the passenger. 
> 
>      
> 
>     Al
> 
>      
> 
> 
> 
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