Inadvertent Locked Door

[PWL]

I have about 2,500 hours in Mooneys, having owned both a C model and a J model.  I’ve never had a door problem – until yesterday.  After a short proficiency flight, I landed and pulled up to the self-service gas pump and discovered that I couldn’t pull the door opener lever back.  It was as though the door was locked.  The only escape was through the luggage compartment, and that is pretty tortuous.  I patiently waited for another airplane to arrive at the gas pump, but, after a few minutes, decided to call my wife to help me out.   She verified that it was locked, and when I passed the door key to her, she unlocked the door and I escaped.  Although I have several possible, but to me, unlikely ideas about the cause, I have no real reason for this to have happened.  It has obvious safety implications.  I’m curious, has anyone else ever had the same problem?  How about ideas about what caused it?

[kortopates]

Yes, its actually been discussed many times here on MS. The Mooney uses very cheap Chicago cabinet locks and over time they wear out internally and need to be replaced. I forget the exact mechanism but recall it as the constant vibration in flight that allow the lock to slip into a locked in flight. Then you got pass the keys to someone via the storm window to get help. I was a little slow in getting it fixed when it happened and experienced being locked in at least 3 times.  It didn't lock in every flight but got progressively worse. When it happens at night, and you need to call someone on your cell phone and wait for quite some time it increases the motivation to fix it. Yep there is always the baggage door exit too.

Its actually a very easy fix to replace the lock and have it re-keyed to your existing key - re-keying can be done by any locksmith. Some pilots here have done that themselves. But personally I didn't want to just put another cheap lock in mine so I opted for Medco locks in both the door and baggage door - which wasn't that much more difficult. I worked through a local locksmith to do that. But there is a firm on the web that sells them with a STC - not that you really need a STC to do it. But lots of threads here on that as well if that interest you. 

[carusoam]

I think @Hank may have some experience on this..?

Best regards,

-a-

[lamont337]

Happened to me awhile back as well. In my case, the nut on the back of the lock mechanism was slightly loose, causing some slop that allowed things inside the lock barrel  to be misaligned. Tightened everything up as it's as good as new. Got about half a turn on the larger nut that holds the lock to the door also.

[Hank]

32 minutes ago, carusoam said:

I think @Hank may have some experience on this..?

Best regards,

-a-

Almost . . . My door handle broke off in my hand. But it was unlocked when someone opened from the outside to free my CFII and myself. 

[KB4]

Open door panel and tighten the nut ring that holds lock in place. 

[StevenL757]

@PWL, this doesn’t directly answer your initial questions, but I had my locks changed to the below.  Never had an issue with what you’re describing, nor have had a security issue.

https://aircraftsecurity.com/collections/mooney

Steve

[PT20J]

On 12/5/2020 at 9:50 AM, kortopates said:

Yes, its actually been discussed many times here on MS. The Mooney uses very cheap Chicago cabinet locks and over time they wear out internally and need to be replaced. I forget the exact mechanism but recall it as the constant vibration in flight that allow the lock to slip into a locked in flight. Then you got pass the keys to someone via the storm window to get help. I was a little slow in getting it fixed when it happened and experienced being locked in at least 3 times.  It didn't lock in every flight but got progressively worse. When it happens at night, and you need to call someone on your cell phone and wait for quite some time it increases the motivation to fix it. Yep there is always the baggage door exit too.

Its actually a very easy fix to replace the lock and have it re-keyed to your existing key - re-keying can be done by any locksmith. Some pilots here have done that themselves. But personally I didn't want to just put another cheap lock in mine so I opted for Medco locks in both the door and baggage door - which wasn't that much more difficult. I worked through a local locksmith to do that. But there is a firm on the web that sells them with a STC - not that you really need a STC to do it. But lots of threads here on that as well if that interest you. 

Well, this solves an old mystery. Many years ago at San Jose Muni (It was muni back then -- international now) I heard a Mooney pilot call ground control. As I recall the exchange went something like this:

Mooney: San Jose ground, this is Mooney XYZ at the fuel pit declaring an emergency.

SJC Ground: Ah, say again.

Mooney: I'm at the fuel pit and my door won't open and it's about a hundred in here and I'm going to die if I don't get out of here.

There was further exchange about rolling fire equipment but instead one of the fuelers came out and opened the door.

Skip

[kortopates]

14 hours ago, PT20J said:

Well, this solves an old mystery. Many years ago at San Jose Muni (It was muni back then -- international now) I heard a Mooney pilot call ground control. As I recall the exchange went something like this:

Mooney: San Jose ground, this is Mooney XYZ at the fuel pit declaring an emergency.

SJC Ground: Ah, say again.

Mooney: I'm at the fuel pit and my door won't open and it's about a hundred in here and I'm going to die if I don't get out of here.

There was further exchange about rolling fire equipment but instead one of the fuelers came out and opened the door.

Skip

Quite a story - thanks for sharing. I can only imagine the pilots concern being locked in while be cooked by the hot summer sun. In such conditions. I bet, unlike myself at the time, he didn't wait for it to happen again before getting it fixed! 

[Oldguy]

Had the same thing happen back in the early '80's in a friend's F.  Landed and had to have someone come out from the FBO to unlock the door. Texas Gulf coast in the summertime, so we didn't want to wait too long.