EMERGENCY: Long-EZ Canopy Opens iIn Flight
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ธ.ค. 2022
- Flight EMERGENCY: Long-EZ Canopy Opens In Flight.
Wind blast at 150MPH knocks pilot headset and glasses off. Pilot and passenger were able to close the canopy and make a safe landing.
A minor flaw in the canopy latch followed by a failure of the safety catch allowed the canopy to open in flight. Both have been corrected, that wont happen again!
The hinges are designed to keep the canopy from detaching.
With the much larger canopy on my Cozy, I don't think the outcome of this would be quite so positive for me.
Nice video. Great job staying calm and focused on the problem at hand and was it just a loose latch?
Thank you!!!
The latch lever locking hook was not manufactured properly making it susceptible to slipping and releasing the latch. Further, the safety latch had been bent slightly inboard preventing it from stopping the canopy from opening.
I’ve since filed the hook so that it cannot slip and release.
Very nice. Hope to own one soon. @@QuaranTinkering
I fly a long eze. Will you be posting details of latch failure in canard newsletter?
Hello Dan.
I’m producing a video detailing everything about the event.
@@QuaranTinkering Hello is the video ready ? I would be interested Thanks
My apologies, I’m getting through some life events. I will complete and post a video when able. Thanks for your interest.
I'm too chicken to fly such a small light plane that fast.
Flying is not for everybody!
What?
Convertible Long-ez?
I don’t believe Rutan put that option in the plans……
Cool tho…
It was more scary than cool!
When your head is in 180mph wind your headset and glasses will blow off. It’s also difficult to open your eyes and when you do the blast dries them out very quickly making it a real challenge to see.
That safety latch IS in the plans. I made mine out of carbon instead of stainless steel.
You were lucky the canopy wasn't ripped off the plane. I've seen the design of the latches and they suck. I will throw those and out come up with a better design for my own plane.
You are right, I WAS LUCKY! A canopy departure would have likely struck the propeller and made for a forced landing. The problem is each builder applies their own “improvements” to the design that are not always sound. I will publish a video showing how I fixed the existing latch along with a number successful designs I have come across.
Thanks for your comment.