Rear canopy latch

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CBeak
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Rear canopy latch

Post by CBeak »

Have searched the boards but not quite found this. The rear hatch outer red handle has never fully seated when closed since I bought the airplane. It locks, but the latch doesn’t fully seat. I suspected the plastic covers for the hitch pin holes were off a bit, which seems right because when I took them off in the hangar, the latch seated fully. I filed out the plastic holes a bit, and nearly seated the hatch, but now I have a red “open door” advisory light. The lock is firm and the door is not open. But I don’t want to leave it as is and develop a habit of ignoring a red warning light.
Does anybody know exactly how this little mechanism works with the warning light? Has anybody had the same issue? Do I just need to find the part#’s and order the plastic covers?
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CBeak
N614DS 05 DA40
Legacy G1000 ; KAP 140; GTX 345R
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Rich
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Re: Rear canopy latch

Post by Rich »

This is the front latch on the rear canopy? The latch pushes on a spring steel arm which activates a microswitch in the assembly. This arm can be adjusted, so you might be able to fix the problem that way. I fiddled with this quite a bit in the early days and won't go into the details, as the reasons were different.
Last edited by Rich on Sun Sep 13, 2020 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Rich
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Re: Rear canopy latch

Post by Rich »

To get access to the switch, remove the left side rear seat vent. The assembly is sitting right in there.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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OriensFlight
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Re: Rear canopy latch

Post by OriensFlight »

I had a problem with this latch being loose. I replaced both Canopy Latch gas struts (front and back door) when I replaced the larger gas spring struts, and now they’re tight as can be. Depending on your serial number the mechanism might be different. My personal opinion is that since this back door is one of the things you definitely don’t want to lose mid-air (yeah it happened early on, and brief your passengers never to attempt to close the latch in-flight if accidentally opened), doing everything by the book and replace wearing parts as needed is the right strategy.
Hans
N556LU / 40.763 - 2007 DA40 XL G1000 w/WAAS, SVT, TAS & ADS-B @ RAM Aviation in Healdsburg, California
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