Ah, that doc. Yes, I've had a copy of that for years as photocopied loose leaf sheets without that nice green cover. Never knew it was the official flight de Havilland Canada manual.
I remember using it to try to determine the limits on flying with the canopy partly open, but the only reference in there is that for aeros it should be fully shut. I found from experience that anything more than open to the 'second notch setting' did affect the aeroplane's handling in yaw (it became less stable). But there's nothing in the manual about that, only advice that the canopy has several 'open' settings. On hot days I generally flew it open just to first notch (except for aeros of course) which had no noticeable effect on handling. Second notch was good for aerial photography while steering with one's feet (which the Chippy does quite well!).
As an aside, I was taking off one day on a first post-maintenance flight when the canopy (which I'd checked by trying pull it open before we took off as I always did, and it didn't budge) became unlatched as we hit a particularly big Barton bump on take off, and slid right back. Too late to abort t/o, but luckily my mate in the back seat was on the ball and he caught it before it hit the stops, and we managed between us to get it closed and latched on the climb-out for a quick circuit before giving it back to the engineers for a bit of latch adjustment!
There's lots of stuff in there about maintenance procedures, and every Chippy pilot should study the flap system to see why VFE speeds should NEVER be exceeded! Those cables are thin, and failure will lead to asymmetric deployment.
But carry it in the aeroplane? Why?
And you'll note from the 'checklist' sections that the items covered are few and easily checked. Things like spin recovery are as taught in (in my day) in the PPL (no mention in the book of that placarded need for full forward stick, which in some circumstances is required). So why would you need a checklist when a comprehensive pre-flight inspection, including the engine and underneath, and a pre-flight left-to-right cockpit check covers everything? Just because some official, looking at flying training from the point of view of every PPL being airline fodder, thinks check-list-itis is ALWAYS good?
Why make things more complicated, introduce the possibility of 'doing checks by rote rather than thinking', by mandating a checklist on a biennial on such a simple machine flown by an enthusiastic and capable pilot (as all Chippy pilots are!) with no intentions of becoming a bus driver?
Would you use one in the even simpler J3 Cub?
Would you use one on a Dagling (about as simple as an aeroplane can get)?
Would you use one in a car? On a bicycle?
Last edited by Shaggy Sheep Driver; 23rd Aug 2014 at 09:55.