Skymaster Hawk - Ejecting canopy warning
 

I dont know if this has been covered elsewhere but i thought id post for the benefit of anyone who may have the same misfortune as i did. After a few flights on the Hawk everything was trimmed out and flying nicely. I also changed the gear to Jet 1A, a very good and worthwhile upgrade. During the second flight today after the model passed me on a high speed pass i saw the canopy frame, then the base unit with pilot in it fly off. The trim of the aircraft didnt seem to change too much so i carried on flying it (i hate wasting flying time!) and after landing realised on its way off the canopy had punched a hole through the right wing near the tip.

On inspection it seems it is easy for the canopy frame to be force back by air pressure and then to pop off the retaining pegs. This is an inadequate canopy retention design. IMHO it needs to be changed to a CArf type design with tongues out the bottom of the fram e sitting in slots in the fusealage frame seating rim. This way it cannot move in flight and find its way off the aircraft. I hadnt built the model originally, if i had i would have probably done it this way to start with.

Otherwise, very nice flyingmachine!

RE: Skymaster Hawk - Ejecting canopy warning
 

this has been covered before, the fix for the problem is where the canopy has the opening for the hatch pin, you must back it with a piece of plywood. problem fixed. i noticed that on my hawk before it flew. i have had not had any problems since that was corrected

Mark

RE: Skymaster Hawk - Ejecting canopy warning
 

like this :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK9xcWE3_ZU

RE: Skymaster Hawk - Ejecting canopy warning
 

This happened to mine too and made a comment earlier on the cause and on the fix. The problem seems to be that the two bolts at the front of the engine hatch (in which the canopy latch is located ) can compress the ply plates under them and allow the hatch to lift. This in turn allows the canopy to lift and pull out the retaining pin. The fix is twofold: ensure that the two socket head bolts capture the fuselage edge firmly when replacing the engine hatch AND ensuring there is no longitudonal motion of the canopy. I placed a piece of poly ply on the rear face of the canopy frame to ensure it fits up snugly to the engine hatch and the hatch latch engages without any lost motion or slop.

As for continuing to fly when a significant piece of the aircraft has separated, is perhaps less than a good idea, one has no idea of secondary damage (in my case there was wing skin damage, or the effect of slipstream on cables etc inside the fuselage ! !

Regards, David Gladwin.

RE: Skymaster Hawk - Ejecting canopy warning
 

Uh, yeah. If pieces fly off the airplane, land NOW! You never know what the effect will be.

David, what happened to the rest of the RCJI writeup for the Hawk? I remember reading the first part, and then nothing more...or did I just miss it?

RE: Skymaster Hawk - Ejecting canopy warning
 

Is there any way to bypass this plane? Seems the fuse should not be pressurized for many reasons including blowing pieces of the plane off.
Sorry about your canopy, hope you get it fixed quick and back in service. I am waiting for the new version to be released. What turbine are you running Amjflyer?
What jeta1 struts are you using? Are you also using their retracts as well? What wheels?
Thanks

Joe

RE: Skymaster Hawk - Ejecting canopy warning
 

ET think we finished it, perhaps you missed it !
Regards, David.

RE: Skymaster Hawk - Ejecting canopy warning
 

Goekeli, its has a Merlin 160 in it turned down to 120N. The gear is Sandor's (Digitech) full setup retracts and wheels. They are trailing link just like the SM gear but have much stiffer springs and are of generally significantly higher quality (being aircraft alloy for a start!). Im also using Sandor's slightly smaller wheels, i find the tyres are softer and absorb the smaller grass bumps nicely keeping that fine vibration down on teh aircraft (as i fly almost exclusively off grass). But probably the harder tyres would be better for tar.

On the point of the bypass i believe some people have used the bypass from the Cermark ViperJet with success. I would also consider fitting a full bypass.

David, I take your point about landing immediately and in retrospect your absolutely correct. I shall remember that the next time the pilot decides to eject on me :D