ItOn Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 08:30:40 PM PST, shafferj45...@twc.com <shafferj45...@twc.com> wrote: Can " find " *******************************
I'll be at the hangar tomorrow doing a prop balance and won't forget to take pictures of my very simple yet foolproof secondary/emergency latch. The only time it's been a problem is after flying all day and am brain-fried. After shutting things off, I try to open my side-hinged canopy and can't figure out why it won't open more than an inch or so. Takes an embarrassing length of time to figure out the problem sometimes. The emergency/secondary latch works beautifully, even when I don't need it to. My plane's builder, Ken Cottle (N335KC) put it in originally and after some years I replaced it just for GP since the aluminum piece that engages the bolt on the cockpit longeron (latching side) does bend slightly each time I open the canopy. It needs to be bent inwards a little before the canopy will open more than an inch or two. I assume bending any metal eventually weakens it and since I have to release this latch whenever I want to open the canopy, It seemed prudent to replace it. My usual type of flying is going somewhere quite some distance away so, after a full day of flying, especially if dealing with weather, and especially if landing at night at an unfamiliar airport for fuel, I sometimes encounter the brain/canopy lock issue. Now that I'm getting old and not flying regularly I expect this situation to not improve. I'm getting close to letting someone else have this plane but I've got it on my bucket list to fly it up to Merrill Field in Anchorage . . . and I've not yet given up on this idea. Re this canopy loss issue, keep in mind my cockpit is only twenty-four inches wide compared to the wider width and greater flexibility of the larger KR canopies and canopy frames. My KR is a KR-1½ as most Netters know. So my canopy and frame is not as subject to flex as the wider KR's. A KR-1 is 18 inches wide, so my 24 inch width,significantly wider than a "1" but still significantly narrower and stiffer than bigger KR's. I still have plenty of cockpit room, especially since I have a really capacious area behind the seat usually loaded to the gills. So . . . other than inability to carry another person, I can carry myself, 21½ gallons of avgas and amazing amounts of crap behind the seat baggage area. Plus the hat shelf often gets called into duty. Tools, full-size laptop, spares for just about everything, extra clothes if necessary, a full size "E" tank of oxygen and whatever else I need to squeeze in. Yes, it's significantly out of rear CG in this configuration but I have almost 18 feet of fuselage length and, on top of that, got used to flying with rear CG issues learning to fly in Alaska. Pilots who fly, or just learned to fly up there become accustomed to ignoring trivial things like CG or other weight issues and, as for weather minimums and runway lengths, that comes (or not) with learning from others and from the aircraft in question. Rules and regulations were never on anybody's lists up there in 1965 and wouldn't doubt it's the same today. planes fly faster with tailplanes unloaded. Less drag. I'm careful not to stall. I've gotten used to having to touch down tailwheel first with the KR, about the only downside I can think of. This is especially true if the header is empty - as it normally is when stopping for gas. It's ungraceful, but tailwheel touchdowns aren't that out of the ordinary. Just ask Mark. Regarding doors coming open on "normal" planes, it always (in my limited experience) requires landing before it can be secured. Doors suddenly flying open doesn't happen very often but it's a common enough occurrence if I've allowed a passenger to secure the door. I've learned to not do that. It's always a noisy surprise when it happens, but hasn't ever caused any flight control problems in my experience. My two cents on the subject. MikeKSEE
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