It is worth thinking about a safety installation for the Q.

If the crash remains right way up the belly tank is the most likely to be
split and in my case the fuel was spread over 20Yd and luckily did not
light up. I have an extinguisher in the cockpit now.

But the inverted crash needs something special. I was thinking maybe the
canopy should be hinged from the rear or otherwise a pop up emergency
release in the front and air pressure would blow it off if the rear securing
clips were designed right. It could then become part of the emergency list
to pop the canopy with a red handle.

Then you would lose any protection from the canopy but could get out.

Fuel running down from the inverted tanks? I suppose the source of ignition
would be somewhere in the engine compartment.

I would like to get some advice on what type of automatic extinguisher would
be safe to use in the cockpit, Halon, Co2, foam or powder and what is best
for the engine compartment?

The automatic extinguishers mostly seem to be set off by high temperature
but some can be triggered by hand and some can be remote located with a
fixed hose to the expected site.

Peter



_____

From: Q-LIST@... [mailto:Q-LIST@...] On Behalf Of
terrywadams@...
Sent: Thursday, 29 March 2007 3:18 PM
To: Q-LIST@...
Subject: Re: [Q-LIST] Re: fire extinguishing system



Thankfully my plane has a roll bar. Thankfully I had a hatchet. I went
inverted on landing once, popped the seat belt, and then broke out the
cracked canopy which allowed me to crawl out. Though the airport crash truck
arrived, if a fire had started it would have been too late to save me. JM2C

Terry

----- Original Message -----
From: Sam Hoskins
To: Q-LIST@yahoogroups. <mailto:Q-LIST%40yahoogroups.com> com
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 5:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Q-LIST] Re: fire extinguishing system

On my 15th flight I went inverted on the ground. The canopy smashed and I
had grass in my face. Some kind souls ran out and lifted the plane off of
me.

IMHO a hammer would do no good. I do carry a very aggressive backpacker's
saw, but I'm sure it would take 20 minutes or so to hack any kind of opening
that might do any good but I figure it's better than nothing. You would
have to go sideways and that won't be easy.

Sam

On 3/28/07, Jim Patillo <logistics_engineeri
<mailto:logistics_engineering%40msn.com> ng@...> wrote:

Larry,

Since Phil Lankford with a "K" is the only Q-Pilot I know of that
survived a serious crash in which he and his wife had gas all over them
and lived to talk about it, I thought he might be a good place to
start. I've talked with Phil at some length and we both agree
installing a crash hammer in the cockpit may create a false sense of
security. Its like pissing in the wind, its kind of fun but doesn't get
you anywhere.

1). You presume you will be conscious enough to use a hammer and 2).
that a crash hammer would even work. Have you ever tried breaking out a
rounded lexan canopy so that you know it works? Has anyone? I'm
convinced this is an area that needs to be addressed NOW by some of our
resident wizards. I love my airplane but I am very concerned about this
negative scenerio. It can happen to anyone regardless of their
abilities.

I designed my canopy with a simple quick disconnect system that allows
it to be jettisoned in a couple of seconds. This may save me in an
inflight to ground situation like Phil's but does nothing for a landing
that goes bad and inverts the plane quickly with me going unconscious.
Phil said when he was upside down, he unlatched his belt, rolled around
and got his feet on the ground and pushed the plane up and off of him
and Sherry. He didn't feel a crash hammer would have done much good.
Luckily for him, the canopy already ripped off. In fact he was very
happy the canopy was gone.

I believe the problem is serious enough, it's time we collectively came
up with a solution that would be best treated like an AD.

There have simply been to many people burned up in these planes.

Regards,
Jim Patillo

P.S. I don't express my views much anymore on this site but this one
needs to be addressed and resolved!


--- In Q-LIST@yahoogroups. <mailto:Q-LIST%40yahoogroups.com> com

<Q-LIST%40yahoogroups.com>, larry severson

<larry2@...> wrote:

if the occupants are trapped

I have added a crash hammer to my Q bird minimum equipment list. It
is mounted high above/between the seats.

Larry Severson
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(714) 968-9852
larry2@...

--
Sam Hoskins
www.MistakeProofing.Net
618-967-0016 ph.
312-212-4086 fax


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