Emergency Egress

[Tandem46]

Originally Posted by rv6ejguy

There is no way a Lexan 1/4 inch thick, curved windscreen would cave in far enough to hit the pilot on an RV.

Ross,
In addition to what Bill said above, Van's himself has repeated this same thing, that during a bird strike Lexan can flex all the way in and wack the pilot in the head. Check out pg 104 of "21 Years of the RV-ator" where Van's wrote an aritcle on Lexan canopies in 1988.

[RV8N]

Originally Posted by Norman CYYJ

Bullets will not penetrate lexan. 1/4 lexan will stop a .303 at point blank. The sales people for lexan use to have pieces with the bullet just starting to get embedded into it. Security vehicles use it in between the panels to make them bullet proof.

It's not Lexan. It's Plexiglass.

[rv6ejguy]

I've worked with Lexan for 25 years in the race car business. First of all, 1/4" will not stop a bullet. Second, if the windshield flexed enough to hit me in the face, it would have to come right out of the frame at that energy level (bird strike at 150 knots). The material is not that fluid or shall we say plastic. Done lots of sledgehammer deformation tests on anti vandal glazing for shops- I have it on all my windows here. Impressive stuff. Often times the material can absorb such force that the frames buckle, distort or fail while you just have some hammer dents in the Lexan. You can cut 1/16 Lexan with tin snips quite nicely.

For bird impact, I'd take Lexan any day over Plexi which just shatters, offering little protection and lots of shrapnel. What is the difference between being hit with the windshield or blinded by a shower of Plexi fragments and a 4 pound bird carcass?

For egress upside down in an RV, I want plexi because you are screwed with Lexan unless you have some serious type of saw. You cannot break it with any sort of hammer you could carry- ever.

I think Van's makes the best choice on RVs using Plexi.

[rv8ch]

I have two issues with shooting my way out of an overturned aircraft:

1. Shooting a weapon might ignite the ever-present gas fumes that seem to come along with an RV crash
2. You might shoot someone that is just coming up to help you

I know of at least one pilot that got out of an overturned RV with a knife:

http://www.rv8.ch/article.php?story=20051007163110721

[Low Pass]

Originally Posted by rv8ch

I have two issues with shooting my way out of an overturned aircraft:

1. Shooting a weapon might ignite the ever-present gas fumes that seem to come along with an RV crash
2. You might shoot someone that is just coming up to help you

I know of at least one pilot that got out of an overturned RV with a knife:

http://www.rv8.ch/article.php?story=20051007163110721

Fire, shooting someone coming to help... details, details.

[rfinch]

In all this talk about canopies, I think we're missing another potential exit: the aluminum floor bottom, which in a tip-over is now pointed skyward. Not blocked, not super tough, maybe kickable.

[Excaptusmc]

Maybe a can opener????

[rv7boy]

Originally Posted by rfinch

In all this talk about canopies, I think we're missing another potential exit: the aluminum floor bottom, which in a tip-over is now pointed skyward. Not blocked, not super tough, maybe kickable.

So now if we see someone's RV named "Miss Poseidon," we will know how they plan an inverted emergency exit!!!

[RScott]

First, does anyone know what Cirrus uses for windshield material? Secondly, how thick? If different from RV's, then we have no useful data, but we may have cause for more researc:.

We have plenty of folks out there in RV land who have cracked & trashed their canopies, the $900+ mistake. How about someone with a dead canopy attaching it to a frame of some sort, suspend it upside down on sawhorses and reporting what it takes to break through? This would represent a worst case scenario, because Van's says that in a tipover, the canopy usually shatters. Of course if it were an RV-8 canopy, the results wouldn't exactly represent the RV-6, 7 or 9 case, then you have the tip up vs. slider comparison, but it still represents better info than speculation.

[Norman CYYJ]

I will stand corrected that Lexan will not stop a bullet. I guess it was just hype from a smooth talking salesman. I then don't know what he was showing as an example. And the security van's must be using some other product than looks like lexan. I was told that is what it was. Sorry.