Cirrus Crash at Deer Valley, Arizona: Door Opened (Yet Again. . .)
Cirrus N146CK crashed on August 4 at Deer Valley, Airzona. The pilot was killed. Just before the accident, the aircraft's door popped open. We know that because the pilot reported to air traffic control that his door was open and that he needed to return to the airport to close it. Plus, surveillance cameras confirmed that the pilot's door was indeed ajar.
The plane's door popped open? What's with that?
The Cirrus doors are poorly designed. It's that simple. They just don't stay shut in flight.
The plane flies okay after a door pops open. But the distraction can be dangerous, and can lead to a loss of control, as demonstrated by this 2009 Cirrus crash. Following the 2009 accident, John
Ewing, a Cirrus flight instructor, blogged about his experience with the Cirrus doors:
Quite frankly, I found the performances of [the Cirrus] door latches stinks. Cirrus, in an apparent quest to make the aircraft seem as much like an automobile as possible, tried to implement a slam-and-shut-style automobile door. This just in: A high-performance single-engine aircraft is not a car.
Others feel the same way. Cirrus owner Hamid Shojaeen, after taking delivery of a 
brand-new Cirrus SR22 in 2007:
Are you kidding me with this? . . .Even when the door is shut and appears to be latched properly, the door can still unlatch during flight. That too happened to us twice during training! . . . all of a sudden there was a loud bang and you could hear the gushing air coming in. . .
The slipstream keeps the door from opening more than a few inches. See the photo, below. (Note: this is not the accident Cirrus.) But the event can nonetheless be down-right terrifying. You hear a loud bang. Then a whooshing noise. The pressure in the cockpit feels like it changes in an instant and, if you're wearing contact lenses, you can almost feel them jump off your eyeballs. The adrenaline rush is quite impressive. Especially the first time it happens.
Don't ask me how I know.
Once a door pops open, i
t cannot be closed in flight. The pilot must land to get the door closed.
So bad is the problem that an after-market supplier offers a "Door Warning System," similar to a "door ajar' light on a car, to let you know before take-off that your Cirrus door isn't really closed right. At $875, it almost seems worth it. (See ad, above.)
When you pay $600,000 for an aircraft, as did the pilot of the aircraft that crashed at Deer Valley, you might expect that it would come with doors that shut right and stay shut. You shouldn't need to add extra stuff to your new aircraft to make sure the doors don't open in flight.
We don't know what caused the Deer Valley crash. Some witnesses reportedly heard the engine sputter. Whatever challenges the pilot faced, a door popping open couldn't have helped.
What a shame. A door popping open should be a non-event for any pilot, because crappy door latches are a design feature of every single and light twin out there.
Every student I ever had experienced a door opening unexpectedly in flight, because I opened it. There's no teacher like experience, and once you realize that an open door is noisy but otherwise harmless, you likely won't turn a non-issue into a mishap.
I think you soft peddled the distraction issue...It should be pointed out that "single pilot" IFR work approaches the "task-saturation" mode that any bang/wind gush/during critical phases of flight, is very likely to push the pilot beyond distraction...but into that realm of stress where performance, focus and decision-making is so compromised that loss of control is possible, or certainly would lead to such gross approach errors (due to focus tunnelling, and loss of critical cues of instruments or comms)... that a crash is likely.
Same if the pilot was experiencing any other anomaly, such as engine trouble.
I am convinced that the uncommanded door opening is "causal" in those crashes where the door event occurs...though the Cirrus accident rep will likely convince the Safety Board investigator to report that it was "pilot's failure to control" that caused the crash. Another pilot error finding.
This is a high performance single engine aircraft that should not be flown by the majority that own the aircraft - As an owner with over 12,000 hours flying experience, I would not let a door become the focus of an Emergency Situation as it appears this pilot at Deer Valley Airport did. Everything appeared to be normal until he made a turn in which he probably felt the airplane was slipping out beneath him due to the open door....Again, inexperience and the fact that he was probably already still back where the door originally opened and not up in front of the airplane FLYING! It is really easy to get behind the power curve if you are not experienced AS A PILOT first. The fact is, the engine was running fine, Bystanders always hear the engine sputtering, I am actually surprised they didn't see flames shooting out the exhaust of the Turbine Jet Engine?????
Dale - The pilot reportedly had been flying for 38 years, was instrument and multi-engine rated, and apparently did a lot of cross-country travel in his Cirrus. Unlikely that "inexperience" played a factor. Mike
Cessna Corvalis 350/400's have a door ajar warning, both audible and on the G1000. If either door or the baggage door are not closed, it warns you.
Also, check the doors out. impossible to have a "door pop" on a Corvalis. No slamming required. Gently close the door and then latch it. Two metal, dowel type pins slide gently into the frame. No struggle, no problem, no door pop.
Only one door accident in a Corvalis and that is due to the pilot opening the door in flight because he had a retaining strap for a piece of carpet flapping outside. "Stupid pilot" IMO, not a design fault. [aftermarket carpet many of us use to cover the wing to avoid accidental damage from our shoes]
Corvalis, like a Cirrus, are a modern, all composite airplane. Fast, safe and fun to fly.
Dale, you should be ashamed of yourself. You are cavalierly insulting someone who just died, and speaking about a situation which you clearly know nothing about. This pilot had nearly 40 years of experience including multiple Cirrus trainings and years of flying Cirrus planes. Unless you were on that plane and survived the crash, you have no clue how this man died or why the plane crashed.