tip-up wd-621 D-handle: needed??

[rv7charlie]

Has anyone flying a -6 or -7 simply omitted the D-handle? Sitting in the cockpit, it seems convenient, but not necessary, for opening & closing the canopy. If you're willing to land to close an unlatched canopy (not a bad idea, anyway) and you're willing to give up the 'taxi vent' feature, is there a good reason to install it?

Thanks,

Charlie

[Jim P]

I sure wouldn't omit that handle. Not only is it useful for raising and lowering the canopy from the interior, but it prevents the canopy from lifting up if you forget to latch the side latches (assuming that handle was turned to closed). Yes, you can pull that canopy down in flight by that handle if the airplane is slowed down. The taxi position on a hot day would also be considered necessary from my experience; without it, it's going to get REALLY hot on the ground. Just propping that canopy up 4 inches cools the interior a significant amount.

[sprucemoose]

Agree with Jim. The taxi vent feature is essential, unless you fly above the arctic circle.

Why would you want to remove it? Weight savings?

[rv7charlie]

It's not installed yet, & I'm contemplating another option for ground venting, that can be combined with a different function.

Opening in flight doesn't concern me, since it's been demonstrated that the canopy will only open a few inches, anyway.

Before I make the decision, I want to be sure I'm not overlooking one of the reasons to have it. (Should be pretty simple to add later, anyway...)

Thanks,

Charlie

[OneCharlieKilo]

I've got a little over 120 hrs on my tip up -6A and wouldn't want to do without the handle. Besides the reasons already identified, that handle saved me from damaging the lower corners of my canopy when a wind gust caught me by surprise last summer.
I had the handle in the "cabin vent" position with the canopy fully raised and momentarily left it up without holding it in winds not unlike what I'd seen before with no issues, when a gust came up and slammed the canopy down (I was sitting in the plane). The handle tab that normally rests on the roll bar for taxi impacted the roll bar and bent the handle a bit, but the lower, rear plexiglass corners were prevented from hitting anything, which I think saved me from having damage that would have been harder to repair than just bending the handle back (or replacing it, which wasn't necessary).

Chris

[USCANAM]

I found that by locking the overhead latch before flight it helps to keep the canopy lower edges down on the coaming. You won't notice this in the summer, but you surely will in the winter. If I don't latch the overhead, you will see a gap of about 3/16" between the bottom edge and the fuselage coaming. This becomes about half if latched before flight.
Having 180 hp in the 9A also increases the lifting factor because of the increased speed.
Regards
Jack
Removing Blue Mountain Sport, and replacing with GRT and Sorceror A/P...not fun at all on a finished aircraft!!!