A different sort of sliding canopy...

[cluttonfred]

A former Emigh Trojan A-2 owner shared this comment in another group:

There were no doors with locks & hingesm or door-frames . There were two sliding Plexiglas sections (that were simple flat pieces, and then placed in a curved channel-track at front and rear edges) that each went half-way over the cockpit, with slight over/underlap at the middle of top. Simplicity of design, greatly reduced production costs, with good form & function...VERY easy to get in and out of, and, as you can see, excellent visibility for the pilot.

Source: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=post;quote=80548;topic=8945.0;last_msg=83156

Here are a couple of pics by way of illustration. You can see that there was actually a small aluminum end piece added to the window.



Source: http://www.russellw.com/photoalbum/...p?qManufacturer=eEmigh&LayoutStyle=LightTable

It seems to me that this would work with any parallel-sided shape, not just a semicircle, as long as you kept a generous corner radius. You could also eliminate the end strip by bolting small handles inside and outside right through the window. Lastly, the design does not allow both pilot and passenger to exit at once so I think it would make more sense to have the passenger side fixed and just enter from the pilot side.

Obviously, this is only for low-speed aircraft. See any pros and cons?

Cheers,

Matthew

 

[gtae07]

 

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[Dan Thomas]

 

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[Pops]

 

[FritzW]

 

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[cluttonfred]

 

[Riggerrob]

 

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[cluttonfred]

 

[Riggerrob]

 

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[cluttonfred]

 

[bmcj]

 

[FritzW]

 

[cluttonfred]

 

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[Pops]