>
> Fitting door pulls and microswitches is only half a day's work.
> Should any door latch not get engaged properly
> the door will leave the aircraft once it is airborne resulting in a much
> bigger job later apart from the flight safety implications. Fortunately
> it has been some time since we had a door come off in flight. Perhaps we
> are all being vigilant enough with our checks.
>
It seems to me that this MOD comes under the heading of desirable rather
than essential. It is a nice touch but unnecessary if you give the door a
visual inspection during/after closing. If the door is not latched
properly, it is very obvious - 'If you look'. It would be total buffoonery
to miss an incorrectly latched front bolt - the rear latch is more likely.
However, to say the 'door will leave the aircraft' once airborne is also
incorrect - it happened once to me and the door stayed on.
I am more diligent about checking the door now and I hope that if I
incorrectly close the door and I do not visually check for correct closing
that the error and the omission do not occur at the same time. I would
concede though Nigel that, such a an event would likely be prevented by the
existence of microswitches. (Unless the third hole were to line up in the
error chain).
Incidentally, when I took off with the rear latch incorrectly engaged, the
first indication was an unusal flow of hot air entering the cockpit through
the gear lever slot - a dead give away if you have felt it before.
regards,
Mike
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