LSA on back

[Oakape]

Most of these aircraft seem to be low wing, with an upward, forward opening canopy. I have been asking friends who own/fly them how they would get out if they flipped over on landing & it seems as though very few have even considered the prospect. I asked one guy if he had an axe or similar on board & he thought it was totally unnecessary. "It is so light I could just lift it off me" was his thought. Seems that that is not the case -

Two people freed from flipped small aircraft at Starke Airfield in Townsville - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[megan]

RV-6 by the looks. You wouldn't be lifting one of those.

[Squawk7700]

"It is so light I could just lift it off me"

LOL.

Maybe if it was that little twin engine aircraft from the movie "The Gods must be crazy." (The one where he does a Fred Flintstone when the undercarriage broke off)

The only one light enough that I know of might be the DynAero MCR01 Sportster... otherwise, tell him he's dreaming!

[KRviator]

Originally Posted by Oakape

I asked one guy if he had an axe or similar on board & he thought it was totally unnecessary

I fly an RV-9 and carry a welding hammer with me to either break the canopy or cut my way out through the fuselage aluminum. Hope I never have to use it, but until I do, the half a litre of fuel I give up is a trade-off I'm willing to make!

[Centaurus]

I asked one guy if he had an axe or similar on board & he thought it was totally unnecessary.

He is foolish. LSA canopies can easily become jammed shut if the rails become warped in a minor impact and I have had personal experience of the over-centre levers jamming due to faulty maintenance on both the pilot and passenger side.

Add to that, most LSA do not have inertia reel harnesses. The standard LSA four point fixed harness allows no room to manoeuvre in restricted cockpit space in an emergency. When flying an LSA I carried a specially designed canopy breaker tool used for breaking out of Sabre and Macchi canopies if they jammed in a forced landing. Last year I gave away flying LSA's mainly because of my fear of being trapped if the canopy could not be released in event of a forced landing.

[PPRuNe Towers]

Discussed half a world away recently:

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...-inverted.html

Rob

[NZFlyingKiwi]

Not just this model of canopy but anything with a sliding canopy where the latch is on the top I would say would be pretty difficult to open if you were upside down, Grummans, Robins etc. An axe is really essential equipment in those.

[Aussie Bob]

Another one here but at least George got out unscathed and unassisted....