what speed do you open the window?

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what speed do you open the window?

Post by cessna lover »

this question also goes for the Sky Lane. I was flying on FSX yesterday and after landing at about 10 KIAS I opened the window. if you where flying the real Cessna 172's and 182's what speed would you open the window without damaging it?

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Oracle427
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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Oracle427 »

Approximately 165 KIAS in the 172 and 175 KIAS in the 182.

Unless you are descending fast, you need not worry ally it. I've tried it once while cruising at 115 KIAS in the 172 and it is LOUD.
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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by cessna lover »

you mean the side window? how can you open it in flight and not either rip it off or not damage the airplane? I meant after landing and being on the ground at what speed you can open the window? :lol:

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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Oracle427 »

How else would you open the side window at 165 KIAS? Surely not on the ground! :)

I don't have my POH on me, but the limits are published in there.
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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by cessna lover »

:lol: I'm not sure. as I have only been in a small plane once. and I know it was not doing 165 knots. but in FSX I open the side window at 10 knots so my windows don't fog up on me.

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Nick - A2A
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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Nick - A2A »

I wonder if testing of the window opening and hinge mechanism would be part of the type certification process for the aircraft? I'd guess that the lack of any placards to the contrary suggest it's designed to be openable up to VNE without risk of structural damage. Having said that, I can't imagine too many good reasons to open it once you're into yellow arc territory. Maybe for an emergency descent with smoke in the cockpit or something? :shock:

Nick

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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Oracle427 »

Cessna Lover,

I'm not suggesting that this might be possible. This is noted in the manuals from Cessna. You can't damage the windows while taxiing along the ground. They are designed to take that force.

Like I said I opened one up at around 115 KIAS and I won't be doing it again. Too noisy and the pages on my kneeboard were fluttering.

Nick,

Good point as a way to quickly clear out the spoke from the cockpit after a fire is extinguished!
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Nick - A2A
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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Nick - A2A »

Oracle - it was a video I watched quite recently which brought this to mind.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOfovyrKHss[/youtube]

The occupants weren't able to extinguish a cockpit fire in a 172RG (no extinguisher!) but opened the window and (in the case of the instructor who was flying) the door in order to breathe and see. The pilot's account of the incident and the successful emergency landing is remarkably matter-of-fact. The only thing that seems strange to me is that the instructor was apparently flying from the left seat and used his left foot to keep the door open; I thought student pilots always fly from the left side?

Cheers,
Nick

P.S. In terms of opening the side windows at cruising speed, I've read one or two account of pilots who have been asked to use Cessnas or similar to scatter cremains. However, when they got to the 'drop zone', they found that a large proportion of them got sucked back into the cabin. Presumably that calls for quite a lot of sheepish work with the Hoover and cleaning wipes later on! :|

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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Oracle427 »

We have experience with starting scattering cremated remains in my club going back to an experience many years ago. We even married two members in one of the planes. We had to make sure that the judge and couple were flying over NY State as the judge only had jurisdiction in NY state.

Back to scatteting the remains... That was once attempted and failed not only because a lot of the ashes came back into the cockpit, but also because the ashes that made it out proceeded to sandblast some of the paint off the horizontal stabilizer. Ashes from cremation are very abrasive.

When I fly the J-3 or PA-18 IRL, I fly with the doors open. They don't tear off either. :)

On a side note, I just took my pet to be cremated earlier this morning. Always a bit tough to say goodbye. :(
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Nick - A2A
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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Nick - A2A »

Yeah, definitely sounds like an activity to be researched and ideally tested beforehand with some dry builder's sand or similar, perhaps using some sort of chute or tubing arrangement.

Sorry to hear about your pet.

Nick

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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by TBryson2 »

When I was flying, we would open the window on a C-152 during cruise, (no specific reason. Cooling? I do live in Florida...) and it had no adverse effect. It did get loud, but I'm thinking the window is outside of the airstream as the airflow comes around the cowling and the side of the aircraft.

We used to also open the small window on the Cherokee to get better photographs, but it opens inward. I don't recall a tremendous blast of air coming into the window at that time either.

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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Oracle427 »

The boundary layer is only a couple of millimeters thick so the window is very much in the stream of air flowing around the aircraft. If you poke your fingers just a hair outside the window you will feel the drag pulling them back quite strongly.

The air is going to hit the edge of the window and flow right around it and not generate much lift up or down. Now if the window somehow was canted such that it generated some angle of attack then there would be more stress to worry about. The Cessna window frame is very strong tube aluminum. The only way I could see something going wrong is if either the forward or rear hinge failed and the window was open or opened. In that case I could see it tearing itself right off and I'd hate to see what sort of damage that would do to the tail! :shock:
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AKar
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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by AKar »

Oracle427 wrote:On a side note, I just took my pet to be cremated earlier this morning. Always a bit tough to say goodbye. :(
I'm sorry to hear. The little guys spend so little time with us.

-Esa

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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by Oracle427 »

Thanks Nick and Esa.
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Re: what speed do you open the window?

Post by bobsk8 »

During my PPL training in a C 152, on takeoff my instructor popped his door open. You want to hear noise???/ :shock: Pilots have been killed trying to close the door, when that happened rather than flying the plane.
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