"Are you serious ? In an accident, how would a potential rescuer get the
doors open ?"
Karl,
I understand your point but I have thought it very carefully and I am
very serious and happy with my always locked doors when inflight (I have
pip-pins both side)!
The risks of the unlocked doors when inflight are heavier than the risks
of the pip-pin locked doors when crash landed.
Consider this:
1) An unthinking passenger can easily lift the lever and ask "what is
this?". Shit happens, really.
The pip pin prevents accidents like this - a pilot has more time to
react and say no no no.
The function of the pip-pin is in this case to be a retarder!
2) Pilots=B4s or co-pilot=B4s sleeve could easily lift the lever by
accident - pip pin prevents this.
The guard alone is good but not 100% guaranteed. The function of the
pip-pin is in this case to be a safety catch.
3) Passenger side=B4s pip-pin is a good, simple and effective door lock
when grounded.
The function of the pip-pin is in this case to be just a lock.
4) I have in my POH: before emergency landing remove door pip-pins.
5) In the case of emergency landing and the doors are still locked: do
you really think it is difficult to open the door? Just kick the window
and it is gone, surely! For "potential rescuer" it is not a problem at
all! It is the smallest worry in this case! Those pip-pins are clearly
visible and understandable.
BTW both of the C172=B4s doors are inflight lockable. I know some
people lock them and some do not. I locked them always when flying but
that was for personal comfort only. When locked the lever was levelled
and the armrest was usable. I am not sure what do they say in Cessnas
POH - my guess is "do open the door locks before landing".
Karl, do you accept my (serious) points?
Would you like to see the pick of my pip-pin equipped door lever guards?
Raimo OH-XRT
