Myth Busted

[ragedracer1977]

I have a short body C.  We were climbing out in IMC.  Everything normal.  As we reached an intermediate altitude and levelled off, the speed started to increase and I heard a slapping sound. Turned out the sleeve of my wife's sweater was hanging out the door.  Great.  

Since we were IMC, we just left it.  I knew the tops were pretty low, so I told her when we got cleared higher, once we broke out, I would pitch up pretty good, slow it down, open the storm window, then the door, pull the sweater inside, and see if we could close the door.

If not, there was an airport 20 miles away that was sky clear, and we would just divert.  

Turned out no big deal.  Door closed easy peasy!

[M016576]

8 hours ago, jaylw314 said:

Huh, my 86 J has a little spring clip on the wall behind the door that you slide the shoulder harness under when not in use.  It keeps it behind the door and out of the way.  Do other people have that or was that some kind of mod?

My ‘82 Missile (J) has that clip as well.  My previous J, a 1980, did not.  I think it was introduced sometime around then.  It’s a nice feature, for sure.

[carusoam]

Clips were big for the automotive guys, before reels became popular...  very brief moment in time...

Some cessnas have a faux shelf at the ceiling... a plastic extension that is really for storing the shoulder strap...

Few people recognize it... many don’t take the shoulder belt off, the rest aren’t familiar with the late 60s/early 70s cars... 

 

Door pop... always occurs on rotation.... either baggage or main door...

You can tell very easily that the Baggage door is open...   printed pages of paper charts from 1994 start circulating through the cabin... 

After the second time...

Only PIC closes the doors...

Doors aren’t left in the near closed position, always full open or full closed, handle engaged... (not a fan of locking doors, for outside help, if needed)

Previous owner had the honor of putting a new baggage door skin on...

PP thoughts only,

-a-

[jaylw314]

20 hours ago, Shadrach said:

Take a pic sometime if you think about it. Thanks.

Argh, I was just flying yesterday.  I'll try to remember this weekend

[Igor_U]

I've got my complex endorsement on '77 M20J.

Part of training was opened door on takeoff. Procedure was climb to altitude and level (100 mph or so), open storm window and apply rudder for slipstream to help closing the door. It was easy to do it.

Years after, it happened on my F at the takeoff, after my wife didn't latch the door properly (I didn't check that). It was as easy to close as well. Replacing the door seal and properly fitting it helped preventing this again as door is much easier to close.

[Shadrach]

23 minutes ago, Igor_U said:

I've got my complex endorsement on '77 M20J.

Part of training was opened door on takeoff. Procedure was climb to altitude and level (100 mph or so), open storm window and apply rudder for slipstream to help closing the door. It was easy to do it.

Years after, it happened on my F at the takeoff, after my wife didn't latch the door properly (I didn't check that). It was as easy to close as well. Replacing the door seal and properly fitting it helped preventing this again as door is much easier to close.

I think the storm window thing is an old wive’s tail that sounds good in theory. There are good size exhaust ducts at the base of each side of the rear seat that vent to a low pressure area over the wing. They can be seen from the outside by locating the rear facing louvers on the fuselage just above the rear part of the wing. My door closed easily without any of the window opening or side slips that I’d previously been told was a requirement.

[Igor_U]

Ross,

You could be right. I remember the louvers on the skin however not sure where the "in" of the duct is. But I would think it can't just suck air directly out of the cabin as would get really cold.

I'll have to look next time...

But I do seem to remember it was more difficult to close the door with window closed, second time around. Only one way to find out!

[Shadrach]

54 minutes ago, Igor_U said:

Ross,

You could be right. I remember the louvers on the skin however not sure where the "in" of the duct is. But I would think it can't just suck air directly out of the cabin as would get really cold.

I'll have to look next time...

But I do seem to remember it was more difficult to close the door with window closed, second time around. Only one way to find out!

The input ducts are any number of vent ducts - cabin heat, cabin vent, defrost, overhead vent, pilot side eyeball vent (great for sending fresh air up the left leg of the pilot’s shorts on a hot day). If all those vents are closed and the  cabin is reasonably airtight, little flow takes place. The low pressure at the outlet vents likely contributes to the cabin pressure being slightly lower than outside pressure.  

The inside portion of the louverd ducts can be seen in the front of the baggage compartment at the base of the seat backs on each side.