4kilo
Well Known Member
Three and a half hours into a four hour flight, I heard a loud "pop." Looking around the cockpit, I discovered a six inch long crack in my canopy which ran from about two inches behind the canopy bow on the right side rail forward to the canopy bow itself (sliding portion of an RV-8). If this were not bad enough, a few minutes later, another pop heralded the appearance of another crack, this one starting about six inches aft of the canopy bow and progressing parallel to the bow about 18 inches to nearly overhead. The small crack did not open significantly or let any airflow in or out, but the large crack opened enough to let large quantities of very cold air into the cockpit.
I now have two problems:
1. I need to get the airplane back to Texas to permanently repair the canopy. I am currently thinking of stop drilling the big crack and securing both cracks with clear packing tape for the return flight. Other suggestions?
2. Once home, I need to repair the canopy. Because of the location of the crack, my feeling from looking at other threads is that repairing the present canopy will not be worth while. This means a new canopy, but I don't like the idea of setting myself up for the same problem again. Because I really prefer not to replace the windscreen and windscreen fairing, it is probably not possible to use one of the thicker canopies or to glue the new canopy to the frame. What do others think about this?
Thanks,
Pat
I now have two problems:
1. I need to get the airplane back to Texas to permanently repair the canopy. I am currently thinking of stop drilling the big crack and securing both cracks with clear packing tape for the return flight. Other suggestions?
2. Once home, I need to repair the canopy. Because of the location of the crack, my feeling from looking at other threads is that repairing the present canopy will not be worth while. This means a new canopy, but I don't like the idea of setting myself up for the same problem again. Because I really prefer not to replace the windscreen and windscreen fairing, it is probably not possible to use one of the thicker canopies or to glue the new canopy to the frame. What do others think about this?
Thanks,
Pat