http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/30/te ... latestnews

On the plus side..... The wings stayed on.

Guess that's a good reason to wear a seatbelt...

Hard to imagine being "sucked out"--I wonder if when the canopy came loose, he tried to grab it? Very weird.

Cary

Unfortunatly, this isn't the first time this has happened. In 1980 a pilot was flying from "near Seattle" to Minneapolis in a stearman and never arrived. The plane was found later in North Dakota, crashed when it ran out of fuel, the pilot was found later over 125 miles away in Montana. Assumption at the time was he was flying without his seatbelt and was thrown out by turbulance.

Methinks that'd be a little hard to explain as an instructor......

On the other hand, there was once a Marine primary instructor at Pensacola who climbed out of a T34 and parachuted to safety after they hit a vulture and the canopy came apart. His presolo student flew it back to base and landed. Now, THAT would be embarassing.

First time you roll inverted in an open cockpit airplane, you learn to think about seat belts a LOT...

MTV

This happened in a Piper Sport not too long ago. Speculation was that the canopy was open and the pilot unlatched his seat belt and stood up to grab it as it will ride up due to aerodynamics. In that case, I still think there was more to the story such as he hit the stick accidentally and caused a sudden pitch down, tossing him out of the plane. They found the pilot about 12 miles from the crash site. I don't understand it though because when a forward hinged canopy like the Piper Sport is unlatched, it is not an emergency! It happened to me when I got checked out in one - very first takeoff. I just went around the pattern and landed the airplane, no big deal. I don't know how the canopy in the Zener is hinged so don't know if that applies to this case but a weird story nevertheless.

Now, I'm not a fan of forward hinged canopies because of what happens if you're upside down on the ground, and maybe on fire...

Best,
O-2

You have to think an unrestrained 200 lb person hitting the canopy is probably the reason it came off...

HOLY CRAP! I know two guys that fly these airplanes here locally. I shot them an email with the link. I don't even taxi my airplane from the fuel pump to the hangar without my seatbelt on. I'll be curious to hear how this one turns out. Condolences to the family. I read in another article that the original builder was recently killed in the crash of another plane and had just sold to the plane to the guy who was ejected. Might be time to scrap that airplane it has bad ju ju.

The regs require that the pilots and passengers wear their seatbelts on the ground while moving, landing, and taking off (14 CFR 91.107). Unfortunately, there is no requirement for them to wear their seatbelts in the air, except while in the process of landing or taking off. Over the years, I've made it a point to tell passengers that they're required to keep their seatbelts on--without telling them that it's my requirement, not the FAA's.

Cary

Just read where they found him in a tree line. According to the story he had just bought it and was getting checked out.

mtv wrote:
First time you roll inverted in an open cockpit airplane, you learn to think about seat belts a LOT...

MTV

Amen to that...even more so when you hold it inverted and the only thing between you and terra firma is a 3 inch wide strap over your shoulders.

Dale Moul wrote:Unfortunatly, this isn't the first time this has happened. In 1980 a pilot was flying from "near Seattle" to Minneapolis in a stearman and never arrived. The plane was found later in North Dakota, crashed when it ran out of fuel, the pilot was found later over 125 miles away in Montana. Assumption at the time was he was flying without his seatbelt and was thrown out by turbulance.

That's a pretty crazy story. I can't imagine flying an open cockpit plane without a seatbelt. For that matter, I always wear my seatbelt even while enclosed in a general aviation aircraft. I once caught some severe turbulence in a Cessna 152 that I was flying through Ohio with a CFI on a touchy summer day. Even in that fully enclosed airplane, there's no way that we would have been able to bring things home safely had we not been strapped in (I still ended up with a knot on my head from the experience, even while being strapped down)... it was a much closer call than I ever wanted, even as it was, and one of those experiences you don't soon forget.