Had a problem while flying the GP Extra 300 PW today. It was the 2nd flight on it and I was in straight and level flight when the canopy just blew off! I was at about half throttle and had not done any aerobatics yet (still getting it trimmed out) It seems the small dowel on the forward lip of the canopy just is too short or something, but it pulled out and it came flying off. When it came off, it impacted the LH horizontal stab and smashed the LE of it, as well as pulling it halfway off the tubes. I had limited control of the airplane but was able to land safely. Has this happened to anyone else?? I'm Calling GP tomorrow to address this!! I'll post pics shortly.

Jimmy,

If you looked back in the big PW thread, this was addressed several times. 1st thing you have to do is use 2-56 blind nuts and screws on the canopy while reinforcing the canopy mounts. The second thing is to replace short dowel with longer and bigger one. Also unles you plan on taking off rear stab, epoxy the 3 pieces together and you will never have a problem with them getting loose or vibrating.

John

I didn't know about the canopy, I will have to remember that.
AS far as the rear stab tubes, I would coat them with a very think film of RTV.
This will prevent them from coming loose and remove all slop.

I think it was last november, the same thing happened to me. The canopy completely obliterated the left stab. The only thing left was the servo hanging from the wire. Use 4-40 bolts at least. I have been using nylon 6-32 screws (into blind nuts) lately and they work well, They wont back out due to vibration nearly as easy as the metal screws. I wrote GP about what happened and sent the stab in and they replace it free of charge. I felt there attachment design was inferior. I allways remove my stabs at the end of the day for storage and have not had a problem (2 weeks short of 1 year)

Good news to report, GP is sending me a new stab set, new stab tubes (bent 'em both!) and a new canopy. The downside to this is that the canopy and stab tubes are on backorder until the end of October. Oh well! Guys, thanks for the heads up on the issues, they will DEFINATELY be corrected when the new parts arrive.

I have over 125 flights on mine and have not had a problem with the Canopy. How many do you have on yours.

It was my 3rd flight on it. Sunday (10/5) was it's maiden. Go figure