Canopies and Windshields

Beechcraft, Mooney, Piper and other producers of sophisticated personal-use aircraft do it on purpose . . . that is, they install a small vent window in the pilot’s side of the canopy (Beechcraft Bonanza folks call it a storm window).

Once in a while a builder will express dissatisfaction with the type of canopy recommended for the particular airplane he is building. However, more often than not, if he is building from a kit, he will usually go ahead and use the canopy sent him.

Not much of a subject, you say? Well, as the saying goes, there is more to it than meets the eye.

In the final drive to complete and fly your airplane for the first time, a few small details are often overlooked or b slighted. Weatherstripping is one such detail.

THE SLIDING CANOPY lineage dates back many decades to the old military fighters, trainers and to a few noteworthy civil aircraft. The most notable of these was the venerable Navion. It's sliding canopy was a clever installation that permitted the cockpit to be enclosed for comfort without restricting the pilot's vision and, at the same time, effecting a remarkable reduction in drag

THE BASIC ESSENTIALS for fitting and installing canopies were detailed in three of my earlier articles appearing in SPORT AVIATION.

A SUDDEN LOUD in-flight noise is your first awareness of the failure of the canopy latching system. Following that initial startled reaction, you instantly learn that . . . the canopy latch failure is a temporary scary inconvenience, or . . . that it heralds the winds of doom.