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7A Tipup do I need canopy quick release?

Bugsy

Bugsy

Well Known Member
I am thinking of just bolting the hinge pins to the hinge block and forgoing the quick release. What are the chances that I'll need to remove the canopy?

I know you'll probably say 0% if you have the quick release and 100% if you leave them out.

The hinge pins are in there so tight and the assembly so hard to insert and remove that I wonder the practicality of making this easily removable.
 
I would say that it depends what you're considering as the likely scenario for removing the canopy.

If you're concerned about wanting to bail out, you should be concerned about how you would get the canopy off the airplane. I'm not 100% sure if the -7 mechanism is the same as on the -6, but on the -6 you would have a hard time manoeuvering the canopy to a point where the linkage would come free. I suspect the canopy would come part-way out and then either jam or just run into the people in the cockpit, where it would sit and flutter around until the forward fuselage failed enough to release it.

If you're only thinking about service access, I can say that on the -6 removing the canopy would offer almost no additional access for service.
 
very handy during fitting...

while you are fitting the canopy you will end up doing tho on / off shuffle many many times... i found it very convenient to flip a lever and used an abbreviated quick release that does not penetrate the sub-panel. now that everything is riveted you need to crawl under the panel and reach up through wire runs to access it... there are many variations on the theme.
 
If I were to do it over..

..then I would not install the quick release mechanism:
  1. With the struts in place you cannot jettison in flight anyhow.
  2. The "hat" and other parts of the mechanism are thus wasted weight, labor, time and complexity.
  3. You would need to put a hole and a handle in the panel just where you might want to position an instrument.
  4. You can use bolt-size pins with bullet ends, make them yourself, for the many times you will take the canopy off during fitting. These are essentially what you build for the plans.
 
I installed the quick release mechanism -- but not the spring and lever and all of that -- and, yes, it was handy when fitting the canopy. But after finishing everything, I can think of no more useless piece of equipment on the plane (for flight, anyway) than this and I wish I hadn't done it if for no other reason than the "hat" takes up valuable space in the subpanel which I could've used for routing things. If I had to do it over again, I would not have installed it.

And before I fly, I'll remove the mechanism and use bolts.
 
I installed the canopy release per the plans in 1992. If I had it to do over again, I would do the same. I do NOT have the "struts". I have the original canopy hold-up bar. I hope I never have to use it in flight, but I have used it several times for maintenance.
 
Bolts hold mine on too. When I had the aircraft painted 9 years ago I took the canopy off. Never had to remove it since.
 
I skipped the quick release mechanism also. I decided on a clevis pin secured with a hitch pin.

To ensure it would work, I cleco'd on the forward skin and laid on my back. access under my simple panel is quite good and pins w/ retainers took all of 2 minutes to install. For ease, next time I'll use a headlamp to shine where I'm looking.
 
Pointless for jettison purposes, but very handy during construction and maintenance. I was going to go with 'bolts only', but the more I monkeyed with the canopy frame the more I thought a modified version of the quick release would be worth while. I installed the hat, etc, but the shortened t-handle is vertical and is accessed by reaching under the panel. I like how it turned out.
 
Thanks

Thanks Fellas,

It's good to know that I'm not out on a limb with my idea.
 
Slot strut mounting bracket?

To address the concern about the struts defeating the ability to jettison the canopy in flight (if performing aerobatics and wearing a parachute and suffering a structural air frame failure), might one cut slots in the strut mounting brackets?

Van's issued a SB to slot the fuel tank mounting bracket to reduce the chance of ripping the tank open if one were to take a wing off in an emergency landing.

LarryT
 
I've installed the mechanism, and I do want it there for those flights when I wear a chute. My preflight checklist will have an item to pop the struts off before aerobatic flight, which can be easily done with a flat blade screwdriver.
 
You have to slot the fwd skin too, to allow the hinges move up and back once the release pins are pulled, right?
 
I have lever installed.

Not knowing any different, I put in the lever to release the canopy as per plans. I cut the slots in front of them, and to solve that problem for sealing, I had some vinyl (sign vinyl) painted at the same time as I painted the plane, so I just cut a price and put over the opening. Hardly noticeable. It wouldn't stop you from taking off the canopy, but it seals it and looks ok. I guess if I did it again, I would put it on again. At my age, I am having trouble crawling under the dash to take out bolts! Though, I have not had cause to take it off much. Looking at updating my dash though, so it might be another opportunity the be glad I did it!

Bill
 
N130WN said:
You have to slot the fwd skin too, to allow the hinges move up and back once the release pins are pulled, right?
Click to expand...

Exactly...

As for the struts holding the canopy in place, I figure that if a 60 mph wind gets under that canopy, those struts don't stand a chance. That also assumes you have modified the forward skin, as Larry pointed out.

I mounted my T-handle vertically and it makes installing the canopy so much easier.

 
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