We took off in a clapped-out rental Cherokee 140, on a hot summer's day --
and the door popped open right after rotation!

You too? I took my mom and dad to visit my sister - Teterboro to
Ithaca. It was their first flight with me, and I had just gotten my
instrument rating, so I filed IFR for practice though the day was
brilliant VFR. We get into the plane, and I pull out my checklist and
her first thought is "my god, doesn't he know how to fly this thing - he
needs the instructions???". We get our clearance, taxi to the runway
and await our takeoff clearance. And wait. And wait. Half an hour
later with the motor cranking the hobbs I finally shut the engine down -
might as well not pay for waiting for a line of jets to land all day.
Right then the tower says that if we're ready we are cleared for
immediate takeoff. Well, uh... not really. I start up again, and wait,
and wait... an hour on the hobbs before we're cleared for takeoff.

It had gotten quite warm in the cockpit, and my mom had opened the door.
I didn't catch this, and as we're climbing out I notice that it's hard
to talk on the radio. Also, there's a breeze coming from somewhere. My
mom notices the sky showing where the door should be closed, and my dad
(in the back) holds on to her to keep her from being sucked out like
from a jet plane. Knowing that the open door is not a hazard, but
distraction by it is, I just tell my mom "don't worry, just open the
door and close it again." We try a few times, no dice, so we landed at
Caldwell, shut the door, and continued on.

There was a forty knot headwind, and my mom noticed the same lake was in
the same position for a long time. We're not moving! We're going to
fall out of the sky!. Well, we don't, and eventually make it to Ithaca
with no further incident, and have a great visit with my sister.

That was door day. The car we got picked up in had the door fall off.
There was a problem with the door in the building she was living in (I
forgot what the problem was), and there were a few other things that had
to do with doors that day.

Both she and my dad continued to fly with me.

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
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