-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Dwyer <q2pilot@...>
To: Q-LIST <Q-LIST@...>
Sent: Tue, Oct 11, 2011 12:04 pm
Subject: RE: [Q-LIST] Re: What I know so far




I doubt the Q can flip at high speed. The airflow on the back wing will force the tail back down. If you catch the canard on a wire or fence, all bets are off. Mike Q200

Sent from my Windows Phone
________________________________
From: scheevel@...
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 11:34 AM
To: Q-LIST@...
Subject: [Q-LIST] Re: What I know so far

A couple of thoughts on the canopy opening/safety issue.

As some of you are aware. I have re-designed my cockpit by re-lofting the fuselage at the seatback bulkhead making it 2 inches higher vertically (headroom) and two inches wider at the head level.

My motivation for this change is that I am slightly tall (not as tall as Jerry Marstall or the late Jerry Brinkerhuf), but I have flown in enough Q's that I felt like I was banging my headset on the canopy all the time and even had to fly with my head tilted toward the center of the plane in some cases. So, I wanted my plane to have more room up there (I know some of you are cringing now, right? Jim P?... :-)

Anyway, making this alteration requires further modification to the cockpit entry, so I designed gull-wing doors combined with an overhead 8' wide "box-spar"/console that runs forward from the seat back bulkhead to the forward "windscreen" canopy segment that is bonded to the fuselage near the header tank. This spar stiffens the upper half of the fuselage significantly, and serves as additional rollover protection as well as supporting the door hinges. The doors are made using the split canopy pieces by adding frames, hinges and latches. These doors can be pushed open sideways if the plane is over on its top.

When I saw the pictures of Jerry's accident, it occurred to me that the plane must have had a lot of speed when it flipped and that it probably slapped down pretty hard when it flipped over. Although I am speculating, a rapid flip combined with forward momentum would end up tomahawking the tail into the ground and breaking the tail off. With very little overhead space in the cockpit, this type of motion could drive your head pretty hard into the top of the canopy and probably knock you out or worse.

I think a couple more inches of headroom and a stiffer overhead structure should add some safety margin to my plane, but I may not be thinking of everything. I will keep you all posted on my progress on this assembly so I can get some good feedback as I go along. I like to think things through very carefully, so please know that any ideas you send will be very carefully considered and much appreciated.

Cheers,
Jay Scheevel -- Tri-Q still building

The additional

--- In Q-LIST@..., Gary McKirdy <gary.mckirdy21@...> wrote:

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your additional information which adds to the means of escape
debate.

The one with a sliding canopy I flew required tools (a socket wrench) to
remove the canopy.

However I have had 2 separate broken collar bones in the past and a blunt
trauma tissue injury to my shoulder whilst skiing, on each occasion was
unable to lift an arm.

If you look at the design effort that goes in to making all aircraft
harnesses easy to release, it begs the question should the canopy release
mechanism not be every bit as easy to release whilst of course necessarily
being protected from inadvertent operation.

My forward hinged canopy is secured with simple over centre latches. By
chance these require a similar force and action to release as the original
Quickie kit supplied safety harness.

I have no knowledge of the force, grip and direction of action required for
the pull pins. I assume there are 4 in total.

Maybe that is something to ponder.

Regards
Gary McKirdy

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