LML Brain
Trust,
In order to fully understand this
request you should look at the attached picture.
Here is the situation: Friday
afternoon I (Randy Hartman – Alpha Omega Aircrafters – KCID) received a call
from the owner (Stan Askren) of the LIVP (N654P) that this door handle belongs
to. He tells me he is in Chicago (KDPA) with his airplane and he is locked
out. The forward handle (in the attached picture) pulled out of the door
when he was trying to open the door. The roll pin appears to be sheared
off. We called Lancair and talked to Ross. Ross indicated we need to
stick something in the hole and try to turn the mechanism but he said he hadn’t
ever heard of this happening before. He said if we couldn’t get that to
work we would need to cut the window. Well, I guess you can imagine that
the window cutting seems too far out to accept at this
time.
What I am looking for is anyone who
may have been faced with this in the past and what you did about it.
Secondly, if no one has experienced this, does anyone have any good ideas on how
to approach this challenge of getting into the airplane without cutting the
window?
I have another LIVP in my shop that
I will take a good look at tomorrow and try to figure something out, even to the
point of making (or having a tool maker make) a special tool that could do the
job. This challenge is further complicated by the distance between me and
the airplane – 155 miles. I can fly over there in my L360 in 50 minutes
but I would like to go well-prepared with a pretty good chance of success on the
first visit. So, I am looking to the great brain trust of the LML for
assistance with ideas or warnings as part of my planning to get into this
airplane successfully.
Stan tells me that he thinks the aft
handle may be broken also
so I should be prepared for that possibility. He suspects some tampering
by someone not familiar with the opening procedure of the LIVP door
handles.
Thanks in advance with any and all
ideas.
Randy
Hartman
Alpha Omega
Aircrafters
(319)
360-9775