---------------------------------------------------------- Zenith701801-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Tue 05/29/12: 4 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 09:10 AM - Bubble door blown off (Dusty) 2. 09:34 AM - Re: Bubble door blown off (John Marzulli) 3. 10:00 AM - Re: Bubble door blown off (Dusty) 4. 10:15 AM - Re: Re: Bubble door blown off (MacDonald Doug) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 09:10:30 AM PST US Subject: Zenith701801-List: Bubble door blown off From: "Dusty" Good news-bad news. A couple of weeks ago I left KMLT on a pretty windy afternoon. At about 1000' I hit a head on gust and the pilot door exploded. That's the bad. The good news was that the door latch actual held and lower half off the bubble caught under my elbow and I was able to retain it all the way back to the ramp. The way I envision the incident is that the wind came in through a gap at the most forward part of the door and caused the door to bow. This trapped more air and so forth and so forth until the bubble and frame (fiber glass) split diagonally front top to rear bottom. Kinda' felt like an explosion! I had a piece of stick on foam insulation acting as a gap seal at the bottom 6' of the door's leading edge, but it recently fell off and I thought to leave the gap for cooling this summer. The plane's a kit built 2008 CH701 that I bought already flying. I guess I put over 200 hours on it without the door breaking. So I'll rig some kind of backup latch at the door's leading edge (when I get the replacement from ZAC). [Shocked] Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=374184#374184 ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 09:34:43 AM PST US Subject: Re: Zenith701801-List: Bubble door blown off From: John Marzulli This is not the first time a door has come off a 701. The STOL Speed guys have a story too. During my initial flight testing there was pronounced bowing out of my doors. My fix was pretty simple ( http://701builder.blogspot.com/2011/07/frabricated-securing-mechanism-for.html) I made hooked a rod-end to a piece of all-thread. the rod-end then hooked onto my interior latch. The all thread then runs through a piece of aluminum tubing attached to the door. The end of the all-thread is honed and inserts into a small hole next to the seats. I could never get a god fit of my doors, so there is plenty of fresh air in the cabin even with insulation strips. ;-) John Marzulli http://MarzulliPhoto.net/ http://701Builder.blogspot.com/ On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 9:09 AM, Dusty wrote: > > Good news-bad news. A couple of weeks ago I left KMLT on a pretty windy > afternoon. At about 1000' I hit a head on gust and the pilot door exploded. > That's the bad. The good news was that the door latch actual held and lower > half off the bubble caught under my elbow and I was able to retain it all > the way back to the ramp. The way I envision the incident is that the wind > came in through a gap at the most forward part of the door and caused the > door to bow. This trapped more air and so forth and so forth until the > bubble and frame (fiber glass) split diagonally front top to rear bottom. > Kinda' felt like an explosion! I had a piece of stick on foam insulation > acting as a gap seal at the bottom 6' of the door's leading edge, but it > recently fell off and I thought to leave the gap for cooling this summer. > The plane's a kit built 2008 CH701 that I bought already flying. I guess I > put over 200 hours on it without the door breaking. So I'll rig some kind > of backup latch at the door'! > s leading edge (when I get the replacement from ZAC). [Shocked] > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=374184#374184 > > ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 10:00:24 AM PST US Subject: Zenith701801-List: Re: Bubble door blown off From: "Dusty" I see that your additional latch secures the rear of the door. My plane's builder must have had the same problem which he fixed by riveting an aluminum tab (about an inch wide) to the rear of the door frame and bending this tab over the outside trailing edge of the door. To close the door tight you have to warp the door so its rear edge is caught in the tab. I suspect this aggravated my door problem because when the gust of air came in from the front, the rear edge of the door stayed secured causing the front edge to bow further. Kaboom! I see that the Australian w/ the VGs has used a small latch (like that on a tool box) attached to the front of the door frame to keep that leading edge from catching air. It looks like something I could use. Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=374189#374189 ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 10:15:48 AM PST US From: MacDonald Doug Subject: Re: Zenith701801-List: Re: Bubble door blown off Check the CH-750 door installation insructions in the Updates section of th e Zenith website.- The 750 uses a pin to hold the back of the door.- Du sty, if you were constantly flexing your doors to close them, that could ex plain your failure.=0A-=0ADoug M=0ACH-701 from scratch (with newer style bubble doors)=0ANW Ontario, Canada=0A=0A=0A________________________________ =0AFrom: Dusty =0ATo: zenith701801-list@matronics.com =0ASent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 1:00:00 PM=0ASubject: Zenith701801-List: Re: " =0A=0AI see that your additional latch secures the re ar of the door. My plane's builder must have had the same problem which he fixed by riveting an aluminum tab (about an inch wide) to the rear of the d oor frame and bending this tab over the outside trailing edge of the door. To close the door tight you have to warp the door so its rear edge is caugh t in the tab. I suspect this aggravated my door problem because when the gu st of air came in from the front, the rear edge of the door stayed secured causing the front edge to bow further. Kaboom! I see that the Australian w/ the VGs has used a small latch (like that on a tool box) attached to the f ront of the door frame to keep that leading edge from catching air. It look s like something I could use.=0A=0A=0A=0A=0ARead this topic online here:=0A =0Ahttp://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=374189#374189=0A=0A=0A=0A ==================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message zenith701801-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Zenith701801-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/zenith701801-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/zenith701801-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.