DA62 opens door in flight

[MackAttack]

The checklist version of the DA62 POH (from Diamond training which serves as a backup to the G1000 checklist) states as follows (the POH goes into more detail as noted above):

For L/R DOOR OPEN, REAR DOOR OPEN, FWD DOOR OPEN or UNLOCKED DOORS red CAS messages:

Reduce airspeed immediately
Check all doors visually
If passenger door unlocked: airspeed below 140 KIAS. Do not try to lock door in flight.

If front baggage door open:
Reduce airspeed to keep door(s) in stable position, land at nearest suitable airfield.

My own practice is to keep all doors locked during flight (baggage, rear and passenger) unless someone is sitting in the passenger or rear seats. I keep both front baggage doors locked at all times unless and while I am retrieving something from them.

I had my Cirrus passenger door come ajar a couple times (which was annoying and loud), but the DA62 one is more of a concern given how it swings if if it should open during flight. Which has not happened to me despite the message and to my knowledge is not “a thing” with this airplane.

Cheers

[Rich]

Suggestion if door is announced open in flight:

Anything bad that is going to happen already has. Fly the airplane.
Land if you feel it must be addressed.
Deal with it on the ground.

[mfdutra]

My own practice is to keep all doors locked during flight (baggage, rear and passenger) unless someone is sitting in the passenger or rear seats. I keep both front baggage doors locked at all times unless and while I am retrieving something from them.

I'd never fly with locked doors. If you need to be rescued quickly, a locked door may be difference between you living or dying.

The baggage doors yes, always locked.

[janders]

https://youtu.be/03r5UEBbkQI

Found a more original source.

I saw this when browsing Reddit this morning and decided to save it for posterity.

https://youtu.be/ZZy7sfqDzvA

Here is the description of what supposedly happened:

The footage was captured on March 8, 2023

A Pilot-in-training, Ronald aged 33, was asked to jiggle the handle after a malfunction with the door sensors warned they were open when they were not. But as Ronald jiggled the door to see if the sensor would give back an accurate reading, the door flew open sending fast-moving air into the cockpit, making it difficult to close again.

So Ronald had to hang on to it while they were cleared for immediate landing.

After the pair landed, they laughed about the incident and when contacted by air traffic control asking if they needed assistance, they said no as they were getting ready to take off again.

[Colin]

I feel stupid asking this question, but I have had it ever since my oil-filler door (hatch?) opened on the DA42 and stood straight up in the slipstream instead of lying down.

Isn't it a fairly simple design change to make the movement of the plane through the air CLOSE the door rather than try to open it? I mean, on the oil filler hatch it seems like it would be a 35 degree rotation of where the hinge is and it would just blow closed instead of open.

[Steve]

Isn't it a fairly simple design change to make the movement of the plane through the air CLOSE the door rather than try to open it? I mean, on the oil filler hatch it seems like it would be a 35 degree rotation of where the hinge is and it would just blow closed instead of open.

Hey Colin - ever see the design of the DA20 canopy? It would be great if it were equipped with ejection seats. Slipstream would jettison the canopy as soon as it was unlocked...

[Colin]

Yes, the DA20 canopy came to mind. I only had a couple days flying one, but I loved it. Apparently it did pop open in flight on someone early on, leading to a redesigning latch.

The Piper LightSport was an improvement.

[CFIDave]

I'm glad with how tight the DA62 doors close. It really feels like a pressurized door latch.

Remember, the DA62 was derived from the stillborn single-engine DA50 that was first introduced as a prototype at Oshkosh back in 2007. One of the 2 versions of the DA50 back then was the pressurized "DA50 SuperStar" with a 6-cylinder turbo avgas engine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_DA50

So the DA62 doors might have originally been designed for a pressurized fuselage.

[Colin]

I had a deposit on that lightly pressurized model. I loved the idea.