Canopy open incident.

I found this on YouTube and I would be more interested in what the crowd on Aviation Banter/Soaring had to say. I am impressed that this individual would post his video, has to be a bit embarrassing. Lots of second guessing and backseat flying in the comments but I think he did the right thing. What say you, far more experienced glider pilots?

Walt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...v=r0I75OZmA-0#!

On 6/15/2013 7:03 AM, Walt Connelly wrote:
I found this on YouTube and I would be more interested in what the crowd
on Aviation Banter/Soaring had to say. I am impressed that this
individual would post his video, has to be a bit embarrassing. Lots of
second guessing and backseat flying in the comments but I think he did
the right thing. What say you, far more experienced glider pilots?

Walt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...v=r0I75OZmA-0#!

Oh boy. This one should bring out the second guessers! (How do you separate a
2nd-guesser from a "There but for the grace of God..." response?)

I never had that happen to me, though I thought about it a LOT...maybe that's
why it never happened (dry chuckle)... In any event, "Fly the stinkin'
airplane!" was always Right Up There in my post-emergency plans. Takeoff
roll/immediate-post-lift-off (i.e. safe to land straight ahead) emergencies
always warranted their own categories of thought, since the release/land NOW
option was readily at hand, and hitting things horizontally is generally
better than the alternative (hard to do at the point in time the canopy opened
in this video).

IN GENERAL, my thinking tended toward pulling the plug so's to avoid
continuing to gain energy. I did so once (maybe more times, though only this
event springs immediately to mind) when I had a suspicion my tail dolly was
still on (it was)...minimize the embarrassment, and, the risk I felt was the
prudent thing to do. I didn't do it one time when I lost all electrics (one
audio vario!) on the takeoff roll...cheapness won out. Finished a diamond
goal/gold distance fun-contest flight in that case (most didn't).

Having flown a 1-34 exactly twice, an hour each flight and long ago, at this
point in time I *think* I'd have opted to pull the plug, based on the video
picture. That said, the flight was concluded safely, and Joe PIC's
post-opening thought processes didn't seem obviously, egregiously, flawed to
me. I've no doubt he learned many useful things from the incident...good on
him...and kudos for sharing the "learning opportunity" with the rest of the
interested folks of the world.

Bob W.

"Bob Whelan" wrote in message ...

On 6/15/2013 7:03 AM, Walt Connelly wrote:
I found this on YouTube and I would be more interested in what the crowd
on Aviation Banter/Soaring had to say. I am impressed that this
individual would post his video, has to be a bit embarrassing. Lots of
second guessing and backseat flying in the comments but I think he did
the right thing. What say you, far more experienced glider pilots?

Walt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...v=r0I75OZmA-0#!

I've lost a canopy. Though not captured on video, I published it in hopes
that others could learn from something from my experience.

http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP-16/nocan.htm

Wayne

On Saturday, June 15, 2013 1:53:53 PM UTC-6, Wayne wrote:
"Bob Whelan" wrote in message ...



On 6/15/2013 7:03 AM, Walt Connelly wrote:

I found this on YouTube and I would be more interested in what the crowd

on Aviation Banter/Soaring had to say. I am impressed that this

individual would post his video, has to be a bit embarrassing. Lots of

second guessing and backseat flying in the comments but I think he did

the right thing. What say you, far more experienced glider pilots?



Walt



https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...v=r0I75OZmA-0#!



I've lost a canopy. Though not captured on video, I published it in hopes

that others could learn from something from my experience.



http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP-16/nocan.htm



Wayne

Yes, I lost a canopy too. My first flight in the 'new to me' Kestrel 19.
The levers were down, but not secured in the clips. Didn't know they had to be 'locked down'.
I was not in the habit of checking the canopy by pushing up.
The canopy departed shortly after liftoff, with no damage to anything else.
I released and landed straight ahead on the runway.
The canopy pieces were all found by fellow club members, and I managed to fasten them all back together and make the canopy serviceable again.

Subsequent flights have been much, much better.

Guy
CF-FGR

On Saturday, June 15, 2013 7:03:38 AM UTC-6, Walt Connelly wrote:
I found this on YouTube and I would be more interested in what the crowd

on Aviation Banter/Soaring had to say. I am impressed that this

individual would post his video, has to be a bit embarrassing. Lots of

second guessing and backseat flying in the comments but I think he did

the right thing. What say you, far more experienced glider pilots?



Walt



https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...v=r0I75OZmA-0#!









--

Walt Connelly

Well, this pilot can walk away and, presumably, the glider will fly again..... I'd bet there's a fairly large percentage of pilots who have had similar canopy 'events'. His emphasis on "fly the airplane" is laudable - except, possibly, in this case.

I've read reports which say pilots who suffer a takeoff emergency will almost always try to fly their aircraft once the ground roll is underway although this is usually not the best option. We can all think of pilots who might still be with us if they had aborted a takeoff when things started to go bad. To many pilots, the sky seems a safer place to think about how to deal with the emergency.

To abort a takeoff when there's still time takes resolve and self discipline. I brief my students to estimate a "go, no-go" point on the runway from where the glider can be stopped if the takeoff is aborted. Then, resolve to release before reaching that point if the takeoff roll isn't completely nominal.

I'd bet the pilot in the video, if again faced with the same situation, will release as soon as the emergency develops and land ahead on the remaining runway. As they say, "It better to be on the ground wishing to be in the air than in the air wishing to be on the ground."

I think the high percentage decision here is leave the canopy open, release as soon as it is clearly safe to do so.

In primary training in a 2-33, my instructor had me fly straight and level at 45 - 50 mph and open the canopy. And in a 2-33 you can really open, and close the canopy at 50 mph with no issues. The point of the lesson was "the glider flies just fine with the canopy open", so: no need to panic if it flies open on its own accord, no need to try to do three things with two hands. The point was made by the instructor that if the canopy did blow open on tow, it wasn't going to be nearly so easy to deal with as flying slowly in free flight.

And there's the possibility that things can go *very* badly if you do insist on getting fancy trying to do all this stuff on departure.

This is one of the very saddest stories I know in soaring:

http://tinyurl.com/l8xatk8

I can't even imagine what it would be like to live with that on my conscience.

So... I've already figured this one out. If I somehow fail and the canopy opens on tow, I leave it, release as soon as it is clearly safe to do so.

Evan Ludeman / T8

On Saturday, June 15, 2013 6:31:57 PM UTC-4, Evan Ludeman wrote:
I think the high percentage decision here is leave the canopy open, release as soon as it is clearly safe to do so.



In primary training in a 2-33, my instructor had me fly straight and level at 45 - 50 mph and open the canopy. And in a 2-33 you can really open, and close the canopy at 50 mph with no issues. The point of the lesson was "the glider flies just fine with the canopy open", so: no need to panic if it flies open on its own accord, no need to try to do three things with two hands. The point was made by the instructor that if the canopy did blow open on tow, it wasn't going to be nearly so easy to deal with as flying slowly in free flight.



And there's the possibility that things can go *very* badly if you do insist on getting fancy trying to do all this stuff on departure.



This is one of the very saddest stories I know in soaring:



http://tinyurl.com/l8xatk8



I can't even imagine what it would be like to live with that on my conscience.



So... I've already figured this one out. If I somehow fail and the canopy opens on tow, I leave it, release as soon as it is clearly safe to do so.



Evan Ludeman / T8

link seems not to be working. Original follows.

http://dms.ntsb.gov/aviation/Acciden...2013120000.pdf

Boy, does this bring back a memory. Many years ago I was getting an airport familiarization and pilot checkout in a 2-32, the location is not important but I will say that part of the pattern is over the ocean. The procedure required three launches with landings terminated within 3 feet of a highway rubber cone on the runway. This is not the place to discuss operations at this field. I was very familiar with the 2-32 as I had done the majority of my training and initial solo flights in one. The check ride pilot was a fairly low time com'l pilot whose primary job was giving rides, these was not an instructional flights. As I closed the canopy for the final launch I noted that the handle was hard to move and did not seem right. I could see that the pins in front were engaged and asked the pilot in the back to verify the closing of the canopy which she did with the comment,"... that sometimes is just seems to be a bit harder to move the handle..." which by the way is pretty small. I moved the handle again and pushed on the canopy which did not open. Takeoff was normal until we were about 300' in the air starting a wide left turn. Similar to the 1-34 in the video, the canopy popped open from right to left. It twisted and just about took my ear off as it went over. My immediate though was to release but we were too far down the runway with no acceptable options off the end. The endless instructor's rant hit me, FLY THE PLANE. So I got back into tow position and reached over with my right hand, now flying with my left, and grabbed the canopy rim and pulled it back. I had to switch hands for a better grip to hold it down on the cockpit rail. At this point, the wind noise died down and there was a loud screaming from the back seat. I had visions of a badly injured person but was not able to turn around and check. I did say rather loudly that if possible could she fly, hold the canopy down or assist in any way. Just more loud screams. The tow plane turned downwind and I released. I had considered how to operate the spoiler and maneuver the stick. During my first two flights I noted that the spoilers were a bit stiff and did not tend to suck out at the landing speed so I stayed a bit high on downwind, this is a pretty long runway, flew the glider to final. Switched hands again with my right hand holding the canopy. Held the stick between my knees holding the proper speed and opened the spoilers using my left hand. I was able to let the spoiler handle go as I went back and forth between the stick and spoiler. The rubber cone, which was in the middle of the runway just happened to be a foot or two from my touchdown and went flying over the wing. The landing was fine with no damage. The screaming in the back seat was still going on but with less volume. Turned out that when the canopy opened and hit me on the side of the head there was some bleeding which got blown into the back seat and pretty much freaked the back seat 'passenger' along with loosing glasses and hat was more than could be handled. The final straw was that the operator wanted me to take another launch to complete the three required "cone" landings. After some discussion it was agreed that I was cleared to fly the 1-34...
Tom









--

Walt Connelly

I am not ashamed to admit it was me.

After I landed and saw the footage I felt that it could be a great learning video on decisionmaking. Could I have done things differently, yes. This is not the goal of humiliating myself online. It is to demonstrate that we have options and to evaluate the options to the best of one's abilities. By going through my thought process it provides examples of the different options I thought about and explained what I did.

BTW, 2 engine failures in helicopters, a tail rotor drive shaft failure in the mountains in Alaska, and a couple of single engine failures in twin engine helicopters make a person always look for where am I going to go "if happens"...

Tom

Originally Posted by Tom K (ES)

I am not ashamed to admit it was me.
Tom

Tom, I applaud your posting of this incident. It's always good to be exposed to situations that make us think. I fly a 1-34 a lot and I have inadvertently caught my right shirt sleeve on the canopy release tugging it to the "almost" open position. I was a bit amused by some of the comments on Youtube....some of which are obviously from non glider pilots or low time newbies. Sure you could have released and landed straight ahead or made a left turn as you noted but what you did resulted in a positive outcome and that's what matters. I also have great respect for the cadre of experienced pilots on this forum and their opinions and comments were and are of interest to me.

Again, well done.

Walt