Flight with door removed

[westcoastoz]

Does anyone know if there has been an LOA to allow flight with one door removed?

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[Jim]

Per a personal email from John Gilmore on 10/20/2011, it is not approved in the US but is in Europe.

[Roger Lee]

I had talked to FD and few years ago as this was discussed. I think it is approved and many of the CTSW's have pins for the hinges to remove them. I'll ask them and let you know tomorrow.

[Safety Officer]

Looks like your own your own. If you decide to test this you may want to keep the speed down to 90 knts.

Not officially. It is not mentioned in the AOI-POH. The load testing was always done wit the doors off and a complete flight test has never been done and operating procedures have not been created.

[Runtoeat]

The owner of the shoe seen in this picture shall remain anonymous

[Roger Lee]

I know it's been done, but I haven't done it and it isn't in the POH. Seems like it would be fairly windy inside. Does the anonymous owner of the shoe know what air speeds they were flying and what the cockpit wind was like?

I used to fly my helicopter without doors, it would be interesting to do it here too provided it isn't a tornado inside.

[Runtoeat]

Roger, according to reports of the occupants ( ), it was not really that windy if speed was held below 70kts. Note this is a CTLS. Bose headsets helped with the noise factor. Interesting you mention helicopters. I believe that the pilot (and owner of the shoe) flew over 4000 hours in helicopters in the National Guard. This included Apache Gunships. I guess once you fly with the doors off, you always want to go back and do it again!

[Roger Lee]

Hi Dave,

 

You may want to try this before you take off with no doors. Open the both doors and run the rpms way up to 4500 rpm. That's an awful lot of wind to have to deal with and that doesn't include the forward motion wind invading you or any crosswinds coming through the cabin. Then talking on the radio may be a big challenge.

[westcoastoz]

Thanks to all for your comments. I don't intend doing this but was asked the question by a potential CT buyer. Not sure why you would want to do it though.

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[Jim]

Roger, were you able to get an answer from FD on this?

[Safety Officer]

Here is one from FD,

It is not mentioned in the AOI-POH. The load testing was always done wit the doors off and a complete flight test has never been done and operating procedures have not been created.

[Runtoeat]

As a more serious reply to the question, my recollection of flying with doors off was that it was that I wouldn't want to do much of this type of flying. It was noisy, the buffeting from wind was irritating and the bose microphones didn't like the wind gusts and produced booming noises. If this is done, air speeds below 60kts is probably best. I don't believe that my friend has flown with doors off very much, probably just a few times.

[Jim Meade]

One poster said the practice was approved in Europe. Does anyone have a POH from there and can they cite any information such as operating limitarions?