NTSB Report on Bill Phillips' Accident

Ron Wanttaja wrote:
....
From the above report, you can see that the open-canopy accidents are
catching the NTSB's notice.

When the NTSB comes up with a "Probable Cause," they seem to factor in
what a competent pilot should have been able to accomplish, in those
circumstances. You'll see a lot of accident reports which list Pilot
Error as the cause, even though the accident began with a mechanical
failure, because the investigator thought the pilot should have been
able to force-land safely.

Works the other way, too. If the NTSB concludes that the aircraft was
uncontrollable with the canopy open, that'll be listed as the primary
cause.

From what I can tell reading the report, it appears that the canopy
*was* open. The latches were undamaged; the ground impact twisted the
hinges forward and to the left, which probably wouldn't have happened if
the canopy was properly latched.

It all boils down to whether the NTSB concludes that the flight could
have been safely completed had Phillips not been impaired. My guess is
that the impairment won't be listed as the Primary Cause, but as a
contributor.

One thing interesting, though, is that Phillips' accident differs from
the other two canopy-open cases. In those instances, pitch control
became difficult, but neither pilot had trouble with roll. The SnF
plane continued to fly straight out, the pilot in Colorado actually
brought the plane back around the pattern and crashed on short final.

In contrast, once the canopy opened, Phillips' Lancair started turning
left and descended into the group.

Do you know what this reminds me of? John Denver's accident. The main
theory there was that Denver trying to turn a stiff fuel valve to switch
tanks after the engine quit on takeoff. He turned to the left to try
twist the valve...and his right foot applied pressure to the rudder,
turning the plane in the opposite direction from where he was looking.

Imagine Phillips' canopy coming open soon after takeoff. He turns
towards the handle on the canopy to try pull the canopy down...which is
probably mounted on the center section, above and to his right. This
naturally extends his left leg, which pushes the rudder pedal and starts
a turn to the left. The plane begins to descend, and goes into the
ground while the pilot is fiddling with the canopy. The passenger, too,
is looking up and behind at the canopy bow and doesn't notice the change
in attitude.

One of the things I've heard about the impact of drugs and alcohol is
that the first thing to go is the ability to multitask. I wonder if
that's what we're looking at, here....an unimpaired pilot would have
detected the roll, while Phillips became too focused on closing the canopy.

Ron Wanttaja

I had a canopy open. Fortunately, it started flopping early in the
takeoff roll and I stopped and fixed it.
I recall it was a strong distraction - though I was still on the ground.
It was a Fornier RF-4 (or RF-5, forget which) both of which had / have a
long clear lid with a side latch.

In contrast, a door is opened only against resistance on a Cessna 150
(while the parachute jumper jumped out...)

Brian W