Gabor Balogh Posted April 15, 2022 Report Share Posted April 15, 2022 Hello all, just new this group. I recently purchased a 2009 sport cruiser. Under 300 hours on it. Very good condition. My question to anyone is regarding locking the canopy. I’m not sure if this one has been distorted but I can’t seem to latch both sides. One side will lick but the other is not locked. Not nice to fly with one side unlatched. The previous owner said he never had any issues once he figured out the wiggle needed to close properly. He also sent me a link to purchase guides which allow the canopy to seat properly. I cannot connect with them. Any advice on how to latch both sides? Appreciate any advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtk Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 Hi Gabor, welcome aboard! The latches pivot on ball joints on both ends with a threaded tube in between that can be adjusted. You can try to adjust the side that does not latch to see if you can extend the latch so it will connect and hook the canopy (provided the canopy is not damaged. You may want to reach out to Patrick Arnzen at Thrust Flight (Texas) in regards to the canopy alignment kit. I think Patrick is the importer of the Sportcruiser once again (which is a good thing.) Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavePilot Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 Installed the CSA "Canopy Alignment Plates" as described in SB-SC-059R0. CSA says that "This Service Bulletin contains instructions for installation of the set for improved and easier guidance of the canopy on the locking hooks during canopy closing." We agree. Works Well. An AWESOME Improvement. Before, we had to use a well-developed canopy closure technique with a "slight push to the right side" to ensure that BOTH Canopy Retention Hookssecurely grabbed the Canopy. While this closure technique worked, it was annoying to have to VERY Carefully "align" the canopy slightly to the right side for secure latching. We also have had the Canopy Retention Hooks themselves re-aligned several times, with no improvement. And, our Canopy has OPENED, the right side only, during flight a few times. Lots of air flow on the right side, then a quick landing and re-close the canopy. I know of many others that have experienced the same problem with consistent canopy latching only on one side. After installation of the SB-SC-059R0 Canopy Alignment Parts, an easy job to do with some cleaner, adhesive, rivets, and about two hours, Our Canopy Automatically ALIGNS and LATCHES perfectly EVERY TIME. We give it 4 stars out of 5. The lack of a fifth star is due to a POTENTIAL Safety Concern of the Angled Alignment Plate on the CanopyPOSSIBLY hitting someone's head (or back when standing on the wing walk) during aircraft egress/ingress. While we have not "hit"our bodies on the alignment plates, it certainly seems to be a potential safety concern. A possible solution is to simply "SWAP" the "Angled Alignment Plates" down to the fixed fuselage, and put the flat, no safety problem, "protector plates" on the moving canopy. See the last picture for a "photo swap" of the two mating alignment parts, keeping the angled plate on the fuselage. The canopy remains "obstruction free" with this idea. Maybe some enterprising S-LSA CRUZ Owner can submit an LOA and test the new CSA LOA Process using this "Canopy Alignment parts location swapfor improved safety". All In All, we have experienced GREAT Results, and improved Canopy Alignment - EVERY TIME - during latching with SB-SC-059. Works Great. Easy to Install. Recommended. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavePilot Posted April 16, 2022 Report Share Posted April 16, 2022 https://cruiseraircraft.cz/uploads/SB-SC-059_R0.pdf Installation of improved canopy guidance during closing. - Announcements & Bulletins - Invision Community Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabor Balogh Posted April 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 Thanks for the info. I’ll reach out to Patrick at Thrust Flight. another question with a different topic. During the first week of April I was flying my newly acquired plane from Ontario, Canada to British Columbia. I ran into many days of severe turbulence which made me somewhat uncomfortable. Needless to say I was grounded for several days in different places as I edged northwestward. I decided to leave it in Montana and I’ll return to continue the trip in June. My query is how does this light plane handle severe turbulence. I’ve flown many other aircraft including amphibians but they all had much higher wing loading and were heavier. What would most experienced sport cruisers feel is a good safe compromise. I managed to land safely at all my locations but I’ll admit it was a little hairy with gusts approaching 40 knots. Thanks for your input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velocity26 Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 Based on the POH I have, these are the limitations: Max. permitted head wind velocity for take-off and landing ...............................................23kts Max. permitted cross wind velocity for take-off and landing ...............................................10kts I know that I have exceeded these on occasions, but the POH is written by Attorneys to protect the company. The Bristell POH states: Maximum demonstrated crosswind speed: 9kts for landing and take off. Again, these are conservative figures, but exceeding them puts the responsibility on you. Forget take-off and landing, I have been at cruise in deteriorating weather conditions and had a wind turbulence slam my head against the side of the canopy hard. I can see how someone could lose consciousness from a similar event. I do not consider these to be "All Weather" airplanes, believe that are best used in fair weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deltafox Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 The Light Sport Aeronaut: Windy (lsaeronaut.blogspot.com) "He that fights and runs away, May turn and fight another day; But he that is in battle slain, Will never rise to fight again." ~Tacitus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PilotPete Posted April 23, 2022 Report Share Posted April 23, 2022 Good content.Maybe this discussion of turbulence can be re-threaded to "Flying Techniques"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warmi Posted April 23, 2022 Report Share Posted April 23, 2022 On 4/20/2022 at 10:30 PM, Velocity26 said: Based on the POH I have, these are the limitations: Max. permitted head wind velocity for take-off and landing ...............................................23kts Max. permitted cross wind velocity for take-off and landing ...............................................10kts I know that I have exceeded these on occasions, but the POH is written by Attorneys to protect the company. The Bristell POH states: Maximum demonstrated crosswind speed: 9kts for landing and take off. Again, these are conservative figures, but exceeding them puts the responsibility on you. Forget take-off and landing, I have been at cruise in deteriorating weather conditions and had a wind turbulence slam my head against the side of the canopy hard. I can see how someone could lose consciousness from a similar event. I do not consider these to be "All Weather" airplanes, believe that are best used in fair weather. I would think even if you crash with 2 knots crosswind FAA would put the responsibility on you anyway … Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velocity26 Posted April 23, 2022 Report Share Posted April 23, 2022 If you crash with a 2kt crosswind, it is on you, because of your skills. It is something every pilot must be able to do. If you crash with a 30kt crosswind it is on your because you even tried the landing in those conditions. There is no excuse when you perform actions outside the limitations of the POH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted April 24, 2022 Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 11 hours ago, Velocity26 said: There is no excuse when you perform actions outside the limitations of the POH. Yeah, what he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyAgain Posted April 24, 2022 Report Share Posted April 24, 2022 Certus Aircraft usually has several of the canopy guide rail kits in stock. As for turbulence I use the graphical Airmet overlay feature in ForeFlight (it’s awesome) or use aviationweather.gov and if there is low level turbulence across a widespread area I will avoid flying. If surface winds forecast along my route at over 15 knots I’ll also avoid it. That said I often find forecasts to be unreliable in the area I fly and have to deal with it as it’s constantly changing. My last flight had light winds forecasted and when I got back to the airport it was 15 gusting 25 and so were the neighboring airports so have to just deal with it. The SportCruiser can actually handle winds pretty well but with any LSA it’s not going to handle the bumps like a 182. April is the worse flying month for winds and turbulence IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warmi Posted April 25, 2022 Report Share Posted April 25, 2022 On 4/23/2022 at 11:45 AM, Velocity26 said: If you crash with a 2kt crosswind, it is on you, because of your skills. It is something every pilot must be able to do. If you crash with a 30kt crosswind it is on your because you even tried the landing in those conditions. There is no excuse when you perform actions outside the limitations of the POH. That’s the point … there is never any excuse available when flying - it is always on you , one way or another. As far as flying in windy conditions, I find slowing down from landing right after touch down probably the most dangerous part of the whole ordeal … frankly, it is not as bad in a low wing plane ( less likely to get picked up by the wind ) but still , it is kind of unnerving as at that point the only thing you can do is keep the controls into to the wind and hope for the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDevoy Posted September 30, 2022 Report Share Posted September 30, 2022 On 4/21/2022 at 4:30 AM, Velocity26 said: Based on the POH I have, these are the limitations: Max. permitted head wind velocity for take-off and landing ...............................................23kts Max. permitted cross wind velocity for take-off and landing ...............................................10kts I know that I have exceeded these on occasions, but the POH is written by Attorneys to protect the company. The Bristell POH states: Maximum demonstrated crosswind speed: 9kts for landing and take off. Again, these are conservative figures, but exceeding them puts the responsibility on you. Forget take-off and landing, I have been at cruise in deteriorating weather conditions and had a wind turbulence slam my head against the side of the canopy hard. I can see how someone could lose consciousness from a similar event. I do not consider these to be "All Weather" airplanes, believe that are best used in fair weather. Would never be able to fly in a Scotland if I needed to wait for that xwind limit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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