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flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:38 am
by new2cessna
Hello lucky flyers, Anything we need to do differently or know about flying without the doors on a 48 170. One or both does it matter? Thanks Tim McCoy

Re: flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:45 am
by Bruce Fenstermacher
Besides legality in the US?

Its' not legal to fly with any door removed unless you have a 337 or STC. These use to be available with a letter from the local FSDO if your aircraft was on a list found in FAR 105. That list has been removed. I understand now one must purchase an STC from the USPA for $200 ($100 for members) and that STC only covers certain aircraft of which the 170 is one. And then it was only the passenger door for sky diving. Once you get the STC, you must follow it and I'll bet it will tell you what door(s) you can remove and any other operating restrictions.

Re: flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:23 pm
by swixtt
Jug knows....

Re: flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:57 pm
by GAHorn
If you do this, be certain to recognize that ANY loose objects will fly around as projectiles including pencils, dust out of your carpet and anything in your shirt pocket. Also be aware that anyone who inadvertently unclasps a seat-belt is at risk. In addition, anything that leaves the cabin may strike the tail, disable the aircraft or render it uncontrollable (A tie down rope was once reported to be the reason elevator control was lost due to the flapping rope wrapped around the horiz-stab. Sounds suspicious but I wasn't there. Still...beware. Dust/Dirt from your carpet can enter your eyes and blind you. I do know about that as I once flew a 206 in a seeding operation that almost went badly.)

Re: flying without door

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:07 am
by wabuchanan
Heck, I can vouch for the danger of flying without doors personally. I've bloody well fallen out of doorless airplanes approximately 172 times...... 8O

Re: flying without door

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 8:34 pm
by Joe Moilanen
wabuchanan wrote:Heck, I can vouch for the danger of flying without doors personally. I've bloody well fallen out of doorless airplanes approximately 172 times...... 8O
What a coincidence!! I have exactly 172 jumps also! Here is a link to my 171st jump. I jumped into my wedding reception 36 years ago. I jumped from 6,000' and planned on opening at 2,500'. At 2,500' I pulled and nothing happened...wouldn't even come out of the bag. I really didn't want to ride the reserve down because I had to land in a tight spot and needed the performance of my main chute. I hit the pack with my elbows as hard as i could and at 1,500' I finally gave up and pulled my reserve. The opening shock of the reserve was enough to make the main come out and it just hung down below me. I was then too low to make it back to the party and had to crash through the trees. Hope this link works...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_4ugQc ... Ymsow_OdeQ

Joe
4518C

Re: flying without door

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 6:12 pm
by GAHorn
Fantastic Video! Glad to see you came out OK. (I always suspected our Assoc'n is made up mostly of nut cases.)

I must say in all honesty however,.... in my view, …. sky diving is a lot like setting your house on fire so you can play with a fire extinguisher.

Re: flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 12:33 am
by daedaluscan
Flame suit on. My understanding is that it is statistically safer to jump out of a light plane than to land in it. I have absolutely zero evidence to back this up.

Re: flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 12:53 am
by sfarringer
I don't believe that in general....

However, it may be true of some jump planes....

Re: flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 1:03 am
by Joe Moilanen
gahorn wrote:Fantastic Video! Glad to see you came out OK. (I always suspected our Assoc'n is made up mostly of nut cases.)

I must say in all honesty however,.... in my view, …. sky diving is a lot like setting your house on fire so you can play with a fire extinguisher.
You could be right George! People have always asked me why I would jump out of a perfectly good airplane, I guess they have never seen most jump planes...I started jumping before I started flying and that is what sold me on the 170. My first 100 or so jumps were out of a ragwing 170, four jumpers and a pilot and nobody ever gave consideration to the jumpers weights let alone the gear they had on their backs. Ran empty on fuel and "LEAN FORWARD FOR TAKEOFF!!" Good thing we were at sea level and had a 5,000' runway. The highest we'd go would be 7,200' which would give us a 30 second freefall.

Joe

Re: flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 1:04 pm
by cessna170bdriver
I don’t know how true it is, but I heard a story of a jumper who had never experienced a landing having to be restrained after the twin engine jump plane had an engine failure shortly after takeoff.

Re: flying without door

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 11:42 pm
by canav8
According to the STC holder of the door removal for the 170, it has some unique limitations. Bank angle restricted to 10 degrees and yaw angle is 15degrees.