The stangest thing......

[Monocock]

Can someone answer my query?

I was flying down to Devon today in my PA2-160.

I decided to fly at 6500ft because it was smoother and the trip was going to be at least an hour and I just wanted to get away from gliders etc etc.

The air was smooth and I trimmed the a/c perfectly. So perfectly that I had flown hands off for at least 5 minutes and something possessed me (in boredom) to open the DV window.

As I did this the a/c started to climb at about 300fpm. Why? What caused this? I spent ages trying to fathom it out but couldn't explain it.

Any ideas?

[ronster]

Hi Monocock,

What happened when you closed It again?

[Golden Rivet]

a guess -

maybe air disturbance from window affected airflow over tail. Less lift on tail would give you a slight nose up and consequently a small rate of climb.



GR

[TURIN]

What really happened is this.....

When the window was opened the airflow caused a pressure drop to occur, sucking all the air out of the cabin/cockpit. As everyone knows air is quite heavy so the aircraft instantly became lighter and climbed!!

[cirrus01]

Perhaps you should check out the static tubing and connections....seems like the vsi is sensing cabin pressure.

[Perrin]

climb problem

I also think you may have a open static line, IE did you climb or did just the ROC show climb?

[Monocock]

Thanks for the replies.


ronster -when I closed the DV window the a/c levelled out again after about 10 seconds.


perrin - The a/c definitely started to climb up through the horizon.

[Dr Illitout]

climb at 300fpm with the D.V. window open. Hmmmm. You would climb like a rocket if you opened the door!!!. What does it say in the flight manual about opening the window in flight?. I'm assuming that the "smoke-in-cockpit" proceedure is to open the D.V. window so there might be a warning of such an event.