----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----on 11/03/03 12:45 PM, Ed Burkhead at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Me too, Ed! (and a good afternoon to you!)
Bill,
I can understand your difficulties. I coped with them slightly differently.
My seat height was just right so I wasn¹t banging my head/hat/headset on the closed window as I flew. When I had the window open, I turned my head and maybe leaned a little but never leaned out far enough to be worried that my hat would blow off.
As for the heat, I rarely closed the window on hot days till AFTER the runup at runway end. The LAST thing before applying full power was to close the windows...
I¹d re-open the windows on climb out when I had good landing spots within range. It only takes one hand to pop the latch and make a 4² gap. Once I had that 4² gap, the cool air vent really blew. As long as I had good airflow, I never had significant problems with temperature.Ditto!
At altitude, or before takeoff, I sometimes got out my official shoestring and used it to tie the two windows together with a 4² gap. (I always used a bow to facilitate emergency egress.) I like this for long cruises since it allowed good vent blast while eliminating the wind buffeting on my head.I'm impressed! My sidescreens never worked well enough to move from where I put them. (For the same ventilation, two 2" gaps give each seat 1/2 the buffeting) Is your shoestring a 337 or STC item? :<)
The vacuum effect on a map from a 4" gap is significantly more than two 1" or 2" gaps, and the map has to scrunch twice as much to get out before one can react (actually I managed to keep the California to New Mexico half of the map).
Since my map was attached to my knee-board, I never had much risk of losing it. If I had to do a major refold, I¹d close the windows first (maybe to the 4² gap, depending on temperature). I never lost a map. It seems like I lost a single piece of paper, once, but I don¹t see why having a sunscreen would have helped that.
There we are...the "C" factor! :<)
Mostly, I HATE, HATE, HATE that flying in a cave (or flight simulator) feeling that I get from almost everything else that flies!!! I LOVE that wide open feeling I get from flying the Coupe with full view in all directions!!!!
In warm conditions, I find it is more comfortable taxiing and/or flying in full or partial shade as opposed to being exposed 180º to solar energy. Also (as I'm not partial to sunscreen potions) I think the cancer risk and even visual glare reductions worthy of mention, each entirely separate considerations from one's preference for or against feeling the slipstream.
I can¹t see ANY significant value in a center window sunscreen, personally but this is certainly one of those instances where Your Mileage May Vary. J
As always, enjoyed the exchange, Ed.
Regards,
WRB
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