Emergency Landing | Baggage Door Blow Off Mid Flight | Model K

[PT20J]

3 hours ago, Brent said:

I saw the other comments about the safety release - does that emergency release indeed bypass the lock? 

Yes, that's the whole idea. 

[carusoam]

Brent,

I think you get a threefer for today!

1) Distractions are real, and can be a pain...

2) Declaring an emergency is a great idea, and can easily be the right thing to do...

3) The inside emergency door release... gives us a second door to get out if able....  lock it, and prove it to yourself...

PP thoughts only, not a CFI or mechanic...

Best regards,

-a-

[Will.iam]

Neighbor of ours took off in his mooney and right at rotation the cargo door popped open. He came back around landed and did the FOD walk of shame to retrieve his liner on the runway. Said it was $1100 repair bill lesson. I modified my checklist that day with confirming the latch is locked. 3 times now i have had to get back out and check as I couldn’t remember if i locked it for sure or not. Twice it was locked but 1 time it was not and i thought right there that was worth it to help mitigate a possible repair bill i don’t ever want to have. 

[N9201A]

Today after a distraction during my final pre-start walkaround, I had closed but did not latch my baggage door.    The very first item on my pre-start checklist is to verify that the door is latched, and mine usually (but not today) sticks open a little if it is not latched, so I just look back to make sure it's closed, which it was.
During takeoff roll just a second or two after getting to full throttle it opened with a bang and blew the foil-foam window covers I keep on the hat shelf up into the baggage area.   The noise was a pretty big clue something wasn't normal and it just took a second to glance back and verify what happened, then cut power and abort the takeoff.   The hatch stayed open, flopped over the top of the airplane, all the way back to my hangar.   After a close inspection it appeared the only damage was whatever washer and safety that had been holding the rod in place had yielded, which prevented any damage to that.   The hinge and door looked fine and still opened and closed normally.
I was surprised that it blew open so hard and so easily, basically just on application of full throttle.   I don't think I made it much past about 40 mph or so on the takeoff roll before I was already aborting.

This seems to be the entirety of the damage.   It was a pretty easy fix. 

 
 

A technique I picked up after a Citation stall/spun here trying to do a takeoff 180 to “save the door” because the crew missed the latch is to never leave the door closed but unlatched. So mine had two positions: All the way open, and closed and locked.

Doesn’t mean I can’t still forget it, but I’m much less likely to miss a fully extended door.

[gsxrpilot]

I put a new Medco lock in both my baggage door and cockpit door. I did something wrong and the baggage door lock won't release the key unless it's locked. Consequently my baggage hatch is locked... or the keys are still in the lock and I therefore can't start the plane.

So it worked out alright.

[EricJ]

14 minutes ago, N9201A said:

A technique I picked up after a Citation stall/spun here trying to do a takeoff 180 to “save the door” because the crew missed the latch is to never leave the door closed but unlatched. So mine had two positions: All the way open, and closed and locked.

Doesn’t mean I can’t still forget it, but I’m much less likely to miss a fully extended door.

I do the same, and was doing the same.   As often happens, this time I got interrupted by a hangar neighbor asking me for help with something just as I was closing and latching the door for departure.   So I had closed it, but apparently not latched it, or not latched it fully enough.   When I came back the hatch was closed so I just climbed up the wing and attempted a departure.   Now I try to make sure to use the handle to pull myself up on the wing and give it a tug outward once up.

I added an inside latch on mine, since it came from the factory without one, that is just a pull handle on a cable and a keeper.  I only recently figured out, when I watched somebody else latch it when I was in the airplane, that I can tell whether it is latched or not by where that handle is.   So now my normal prestart checklist item 0 of checking the door is closed has the added confidence of being able to visually confirm that it is latched by how much of the cable is out.

 

[PT20J]

Duct tape. That'll keep it shut!

[A64Pilot]

One of you smart smart guys could easily install a micro switch and a light if you think it necessary, I’d consider that a minor modification myself so long as you didn’t modify the mechanism

Edited March 29, 2021 by A64Pilot

[RobertGary1]

In twins the door opening is considered much more deadly. Usually you can’t remove the key with the door open so hopefully you’d notice your keys missing. 

[Ibra]

18 hours ago, RobertGary1 said:

In twins the door opening is considered much more deadly

Why? does it change single engine speeds? or because it may hit the prop?

Or some: combined effect lose speed & propeller? then get dragged toward the dead engine with few pieces of engine in the cockpit..

Edited March 30, 2021 by Ibra

[RobertGary1]

3 hours ago, Ibra said:

Why? does it change single engine speeds? or because it may hit the prop?

Or some: combined effect lose speed & propeller? then get dragged toward the dead engine with few pieces of engine in the cockpit..

https://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/safo/all_safos/media/2008/SAFO08013SUP.pdf
 

[EricJ]

5 hours ago, Ibra said:

Why? does it change single engine speeds? or because it may hit the prop?

Or some: combined effect lose speed & propeller? then get dragged toward the dead engine with few pieces of engine in the cockpit..

It's an issue for models with hatches in the nose for baggage or anything that can come out, due to potential interference with the prop.    Many light twins don't have hatches in the nose, so for those it's the same as a single.

 

[Ibra]

2 hours ago, EricJ said:

It's an issue for models with hatches in the nose for baggage or anything that can come out

That makes sense, I saw one video of training when nose bag door openned just after rotation (airflow change obviously so timing isnot a surprise), they still rejected and overrun ahead, probably was not the plan but it is a safe bet, who knows what would be the new speed/performance?

Unless one is used to fly with bag/pax doors open everyday they can't say much...

[Urs_Wildermuth]

Does anyone know if this airplane is back in the air or was it a total damage? Clearly, the damage was much more severe than originally thought, with the tail and some other parts distorted.

[HRM]

1 hour ago, Urs_Wildermuth said:

Does anyone know if this airplane is back in the air or was it a total damage? Clearly, the damage was much more severe than originally thought, with the tail and some other parts distorted.

I never saw the tail number. With it you could check flight aware and see if its been in the air lately.

[RJBrown]

Repaired, repainted, Restored.

in England.

[HRM]

Just now, RJBrown said:

Repaired, repainted, Restored.

in England.

...and a FINE looking bird! I really love the black accents around the windows.

[LANCECASPER]

It only happened in 2020, not sure but that may be a before picture.

This was when it was a make-over in 2019:

 

 

 

Here's more footage of the damage:

 

 

[A64Pilot]

Did we ever hear what the failure was? Door left unlatched, or piano hinge broken, latch failed or what?

[RJBrown]

My mistake that was a before accident picture. 
this is an after picture from the above U Tube video.

That video shows during and after.

Edited May 26, 2021 by RJBrown

[Urs_Wildermuth]

19 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Did we ever hear what the failure was? Door left unlatched, or piano hinge broken, latch failed or what?

Final Report by the UK AAIB

"The investigation found the safety clip for the internal emergency operating handle of the baggage door was not correctly installed, so instead of holding the handle closed it held it in a slightly open position. During the flight, it seems most likely that this handle moved sufficiently towards the open position to disengage the shoot bolts from the door frame allowing the door to open. "

 

[A64Pilot]

46 minutes ago, Urs_Wildermuth said:

Final Report by the UK AAIB

"The investigation found the safety clip for the internal emergency operating handle of the baggage door was not correctly installed, so instead of holding the handle closed it held it in a slightly open position. During the flight, it seems most likely that this handle moved sufficiently towards the open position to disengage the shoot bolts from the door frame allowing the door to open. "

 

Thanks, I missed that.

‘So I need to look at my safety clip, I wonder how it was installed incorrectly?

 

[PT20J]

19 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

Thanks, I missed that.

‘So I need to look at my safety clip, I wonder how it was installed incorrectly?

 

When you remove the cover on the inside of the baggage door it will be obvious. The clip holds the interior lever closed and will be on top of the lever. If it installed under the lever it holds the lever slightly open.

There may have been a second issue since the piano hinge failed allowing the open door to depart the aircraft. It is likely that there was a defect in the piano hinge wire that wasn't noticeable in normal operation but weakened it so that it could not withstand the forces in flight. Mooney (Bob Krommer) did flight testing with the baggage door rigged to allow him to open it in various flight conditions and found no controllability problems or damage.

It might be good to inspect the hinge at annual.

Skip

[carusoam]

At pattern speeds the door tries to open about halfway...

At cruise speeds, the door has been known to flop over and dent the top of the cabin...  the door gets all bent up from the experience...

This is the only one I have heard about departing the plane...

Best regards,

-a-

[Urs_Wildermuth]

22 hours ago, PT20J said:

There may have been a second issue since the piano hinge failed allowing the open door to depart the aircraft. It is likely that there was a defect in the piano hinge wire that wasn't noticeable in normal operation but weakened it so that it could not withstand the forces in flight.

Yes, I am almost sure that this had a lot to do with it. The way the door departed should not have happened, even if it opens in flight. However, a couple of years ago, I discovered the same kind of thing on my oil filler access door which has a similar hinge. The wire going through the piano hinge moved and partially freed some of the hinge. Had this not been rectified, it could have departed and flown into the windshield.

I still wonder if that plane was actually written off or repaired, according to flightradar and flight aware it has not flown since the incident flight.

It is good to read in the report that controlability was indeed an issue. Many armchair critics took the pilot to the cleaners after his video was published, which I found disgusting. Now we have the controlability issues on black and white. The AAIB don't put it in if it had not happened. Apart, the photos did show sufficiently how severe the damage was.