X-Virus-Scanned: clean according to Sophos on Logan.com Return-Path: Received: from fed1rmmtao102.cox.net ([68.230.241.44] verified) by logan.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.2.14) with ESMTP id 3670491 for flyrotary@lancaironline.net; Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:46:22 -0400 Received-SPF: none receiver=logan.com; client-ip=68.230.241.44; envelope-from=alventures@cox.net Received: from fed1rmimpo01.cox.net ([70.169.32.71]) by fed1rmmtao102.cox.net (InterMail vM.7.08.02.01 201-2186-121-102-20070209) with ESMTP id <20090603184545.OZNF20976.fed1rmmtao102.cox.net@fed1rmimpo01.cox.net> for ; Wed, 3 Jun 2009 14:45:45 -0400 Received: from BigAl ([72.192.135.181]) by fed1rmimpo01.cox.net with bizsmtp id zWlk1b0063uzsQg03Wlk0w; Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:45:45 -0400 X-VR-Score: 0.00 X-Authority-Analysis: v=1.0 c=1 a=_vl8Xygvyp8A:10 a=4T4scy2fKmwIMab_blAA:9 a=9KexcB8KGd1v98WViVR2IBH5JT0A:4 a=9X9OeGTi-LMLYgcIDUoA:9 a=FJnBrlCF89b3G-w-KwcA:7 a=7L1OJIHmo8ERSuEccZTASR3DikwA:4 X-CM-Score: 0.00 From: "Al Gietzen" To: "'Rotary motors in aircraft'" Subject: RE: [FlyRotary] Re: Incident No. 5119 Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 11:46:05 -0800 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0008_01C9E440.E09152F0" X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.6838 In-Reply-To: Importance: Normal Thread-Index: Acnkdj5YSWXv82h4QtuGtu29wbIbOAACbRUg X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5579 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0008_01C9E440.E09152F0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable but I'll bet you soiled your underwear quicker than I did - when that = door came off {:>). That's not a figure of speech I generally use; but the 'startle factor" = was way up there for just a moment. Obviously there was no question what = had happened; but there was a question of whether the door had departed the aircraft. Immediately my mind recalled the story of another Velocity = having had the door open on takeoff, and remain attached, and make the plane = turn hard to the right. So my immediate response was to put some force on the stick to the left. I was surprised, and relieved, that the plane = responded to the left - so I knew we were still flying. That brought the stress = factor down dramatically. =20 I had also immediately pulled back the power when the door came off. So = the next thing was to add a bit back to confirm things were smooth - no prop damage. I don't recall a major fear factor (maybe my memory is bad) = because I didn't have time to think about bad things happening. I was very busy = for a few moments, and then at least somewhat confident that the outcome was going to be OK. Very fortunate indeed. There was potential for much = worse. =20 Hope it doesn't take you long, I know everyone is wondering why the = latches failed to hold the door this time when it had before. I know you are as well. =20 Although I can't be sure, I have to admit that the most likely cause was that I had not fully latched the door. If it had not been latched at = all, it would have come open on takeoff. If fully latched, I can't quite = imagine how/why it could come loose. It had stayed closed for nearly an hour of flight; and then let go. A bit of a mystery, but as you know, it is = usually our own mistakes that bit us. On the more recent builds it has become = more common to have indicator lights that verify full insertion of the latch pins. There is no question that those will be included in the repair. =20 Al G ------=_NextPart_000_0008_01C9E440.E09152F0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

but I’ll = bet you soiled your underwear quicker than I did - when that door came off = {:>).

That’s not a figure of = speech I generally use; but the ‘startle factor” was way up there for = just a moment. Obviously there was no question what had happened; but = there was a question of whether the door had departed the aircraft. = Immediately my mind recalled the story of another Velocity= having had the door open on takeoff, and remain attached, = and make the plane turn hard to the right. So my immediate response was to put = some force on the stick to the left. I was surprised, and relieved, = that the plane responded to the left – so I knew we were still flying. That brought the stress factor down dramatically.

I had also immediately pulled = back the power when the door came off. So the next thing was to add a bit back to confirm things were smooth – no prop damage. I don’t = recall a major fear factor (maybe my memory is bad) because I didn’t have = time to think about bad things happening. I was very busy for a few = moments, and then at least somewhat confident that the outcome was going to be OK. = Very fortunate indeed. There was potential for much = worse.

Hope it = doesn’t take you long, I know everyone is wondering why the latches failed to = hold the door this time when it had before. I know you are as = well.

Although I can’t be sure, I = have to admit that the most likely cause was that I had not fully latched the = door. If it had not been latched at all, it would have come open on takeoff. = If fully latched, I can’t quite imagine how/why it could come loose. = It had stayed closed for nearly an hour of flight; and then let go. A = bit of a mystery, but as you know, it is usually our own mistakes that bit = us. On the more recent builds it has become more common to have indicator = lights that verify full insertion of the latch pins. There is no question that = those will be included in the repair.

Al G

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