One more landing or not

[Yetti]

I am still practicing landings in the Long Body and have not removed my 4000' runway limitation yet.    I have one 2100' foot landing so far.     I went for the afternoon turn money into Mooney Noise flight yesterday.       Questioning if I should do some pattern work.     I did one acceptable landing.   A little fast, did not hold it off long enough to burn some extra energy.    Because it is Texas first thing you do is open the window and door and get some air moving.   Opened the door.    Door latch handle fell off in my hand.   Tossed it on the floor.    Decided the plane was saying that is enough for today.   OK I get it.

[N201MKTurbo]

14 minutes ago, Yetti said:

I am still practicing landings in the Long Body and have not removed my 4000' runway limitation yet.    I have one 2100' foot landing so far.     I went for the afternoon turn money into Mooney Noise flight yesterday.       Questioning if I should do some pattern work.     I did one acceptable landing.   A little fast, did not hold it off long enough to burn some extra energy.    Because it is Texas first thing you do is open the window and door and get some air moving.   Opened the door.    Door latch handle fell off in my hand.   Tossed it on the floor.    Decided the plane was saying that is enough for today.   OK I get it.

Better than the door handle falling off before the door opened. I had to call the FBO on the radio once and have them send someone over with a pair of vice grips so I could get out of the plane.

Since then, I keep a craftsman #0 Phillips screwdriver in the plane. It fits the roll pin hole and makes a nice emergency door handle.

[Yetti]

1 hour ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Better than the door handle falling off before the door opened. I had to call the FBO on the radio once and have them send someone over with a pair of vice grips so I could get out of the plane.

Since then, I keep a craftsman #0 Phillips screwdriver in the plane. It fits the roll pin hole and makes a nice emergency door handle.

This one was loose beforehand.   Should I have paid more attention to it?   Yes!  Was this it's final cry for help?   probably so.    The newer ones are square interface with a set screw.   Easy remedy, but the plane had spoken. 

[Slick Nick]

3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Better than the door handle falling off before the door opened. I had to call the FBO on the radio once and have them send someone over with a pair of vice grips so I could get out of the plane.

Since then, I keep a craftsman #0 Phillips screwdriver in the plane. It fits the roll pin hole and makes a nice emergency door handle.

Vice grips? Wouldn’t you just have them open the door from the outside?

[N201MKTurbo]

8 minutes ago, Slick Nick said:

Vice grips? Wouldn’t you just have them open the door from the outside?

That would work too. It was a long time ago. My memory isn’t as sharp as it once was. I think what happened I asked for the tool and the guy came up, opened the door and handed it to me. And they let me fly planes……

[MikeOH]

1 hour ago, N201MKTurbo said:

That would work too. It was a long time ago. My memory isn’t as sharp as it once was. I think what happened I asked for the tool and the guy came up, opened the door and handed it to me. And they let me fly planes……

Did he inquire as to what you wanted the vice grips for?

[N201MKTurbo]

10 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

Did he inquire as to what you wanted the vice grips for?

I don’t want to talk about it any more….

[takair]

I would have asked him to close the door as he left so I could make use of the vice grips. :-)

[Yetti]

17 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I don’t want to talk about it any more….

It's no worse than walking around trying to find the #2 phillips only to discover it has been in your left hand the whole time.

[N201MKTurbo]

37 minutes ago, Yetti said:

It's no worse than walking around trying to find the #2 phillips only to discover it has been in your left hand the whole time.

No, it is usually in my pocket.

[Flash]

On 9/10/2025 at 9:46 AM, N201MKTurbo said:

Better than the door handle falling off before the door opened. I had to call the FBO on the radio once and have them send someone over with a pair of vice grips so I could get out of the plane.

You can always go out the baggage door. The only problem is getting the baggage door to lock again once you've gone out through it. On my plane, that has involved partially removing the inside cover to reach in and reset the lock mechanism. This involves removing about 10 small screws and then reinserting them when you're finished.

Edited Thursday at 05:59 PM by Flash

[Hank]

25 minutes ago, Flash said:

You can always go out the baggage door. The only problem is ...

that us Vintage owners don't have the emergency release on our baggage doors, unless someone has taken the initiative to create and install one.

When my door handle broke off, there was one other person at the airport, walking along hangar row, and he noticed me waving my hat out the storm window. Had he thought I was just waving Hello, it could have gotten interesting for me and my CFII, freshly landed after a total electrical failure and real-life emergency gear extension. 

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

that us Vintage owners don't have the emergency release on our baggage doors, unless someone has taken the initiative to create and install one.

It's a pretty easy mod to add an interior release to the hatch, which I highly recommend for the obvious reasons.   It was the first thing I did to my airplane after getting my Airframe mechanic rating.

1 hour ago, Hank said:

When my door handle broke off, there was one other person at the airport, walking along hangar row, and he noticed me waving my hat out the storm window. Had he thought I was just waving Hello, it could have gotten interesting for me and my CFII, freshly landed after a total electrical failure and real-life emergency gear extension. 

Sometimes the things, they just stack up. 

[Igor_U]

22 hours ago, Hank said:

that us Vintage owners don't have the emergency release on our baggage doors, unless someone has taken the initiative to create and install one.

When my door handle broke off, there was one other person at the airport, walking along hangar row, and he noticed me waving my hat out the storm window. Had he thought I was just waving Hello, it could have gotten interesting for me and my CFII, freshly landed after a total electrical failure and real-life emergency gear extension. 

Wow,

You had a real life Electrical emergency and then a handle broke?

If it wasn’t for bad luck you wouldn’t have any luck at all. 

[Hank]

28 minutes ago, Igor_U said:

If it wasn’t for bad luck you wouldn’t have any luck at all. 

Gloom, despair and agony on me . . .

At least my CFII was attractive.