REFLECTOR: Unexpected door opening

Wed Jun 3 01:41:56 CDT 2009

This lengthy discussion about the gull wing doors makes me glad I decided 
not to put them on my Velocity. I almost did. I know the consensus is that 
adding the gull wing doors was a good thing, but I'm convinced that a top 
door model that kneels down to let passengers in and out is a better 
airplane. Stronger fuselage, flies with the door open, large bench seat in 
the back, 6.5 gallon sump for emergency reserve, and lots of elbow room in 
the front seats. Just two cents worth of my humble opinion.

Doug Holub
51.2 hours on N2980W, still needs paint and interior

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian Michalk" <michalk at awpi.com>
To: "Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list" <reflector at tvbf.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 9:45 PM
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Unexpected door opening

>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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