The pilot reported that prior to the takeoff roll, his son, who was in the front right seat, had difficulty shutting and locking the cabin door. The pilot reached over and ensured the door was locked.
Shortly after liftoff the cabin door came open.
He maneuvered the Beech 56 to stay in the traffic pattern at the airport in Hudson, Colorado, and return to land. He reported that while on final he did not have any rudder authority and was unable to keep directional control.
He reported that prior to the initial impact he lost sight of the runway when the airplane pitched up and rolled left simultaneously. Subsequently the left wing hit the ground and sustained substantial damage.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the landing. Contributing to the accident was the distraction of the open cabin door.
NTSB Identification: GAA16CA060
This November 2015 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
In most cases when a door pops open, the noise the air makes is so alarming that it gives the impression you are flying a lot faster than you really are, thus getting in to an almost stalling situation.
His son may have also interfered with control. It wouldn’t be the first time that has happened.
I’ve no doubt that this pilot made up the part about the rudder authority etc. as a CYA story. Doors that crack open on an airplane at rotation or inflight are a slipstream noise producer that will not open beyond a crack without a lot of force due to the pressure of the slipstream. A cracked open door has little if any affect on the handling qualities of a GA airplane. I’ve had one as a result of moderate mountain turbulence that caused the airframe to distort enough for the door to unlatch but was able to get it closed and latched again after turning over control of the airplane to my ten year old son who kept us straight and level while I unstrapped, turned around on my knees in the seat and reached back to push open the door just enough it could be slammed shut and relatched. We continued on without further ado.
I had the door come open on the Travel Air once and it was noisy but there was no change in the way it flew.
Here is something I find troubling with this report.
“He reported that while on final he did not have any rudder authority and was unable to keep directional control.”
He has just reported a control problem with the plane while on final. This is not a problem caused by an open door. Rudder authority should remain, even though diminished, below Vso for control on roll out, but he didn’t have rudder authority on final.
One has to ask why the NTSB discounted this statement and so did not travel to and inspect this aircraft. Notice that nothing was said about control surfaces, cables, control rods, etc. being examined.
Instead, we get the pilot failed to maintain directional control, which tells us that the loss of rudder authority was discounted.
There is nothing in the full report that I read that tells me why that statement was discounted.
It was discounted because it’s nonsense. The open door had nothing to do with rudder control. The open door caused the pilot to lose focus, or panic, and after the fact he came up with the rudder control issue to make the wreck about something besides his actions. It’s normal for pilots or even commenters on this forum to want the accident to be related to a mechanical or design failure of the aircraft and not about our own limitations a pilots.