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Decathlon skylight gone!

B

bob turner

Registered User
Not my skylight, but a buddy's - 1979, so he has those peculiar wings with integral fairings. Mine is 1977, and the wing fairings are like a Super Cub.

It looks like his only choice is to remove the wings before installing the new glass. Yuk!

Anybody here with experience? Hints?

oh - nice to know - it apparently flies fine in convertible mode.
 
There was a Citabria/Scout in Alaska years ago that lost its skylight in flight. The plane reportedly became almost uncontrollable until the passenger leaned forward and up against the hole. Not sure how uncontrollable it was...might have been just tail shake but I suspect it was more as the story teller said it was grim and the passenger was not pleased.

Gary
 
It's probably a borderline religious experience the instant that skylight pops. I'm envisioning rounding out of the bottom of a loop at about 150 mph/3 g's and POW !
 
Last edited:
Mike - that sounds good, but the manual says to glue it down and staple the fabric to the wood formers.

These are the kinds of suggestions that help - I wonder if that has been successfully done. I forgot to ask Rainbow - I bet they have done this a gazillion times.
 
I just talked to Ron at Rainbow Flying Service. He is a good guy, willing to share his expertise.

The wings have to come off. Ron recommends wood screws and dimpled washers every six inches along the sides. He says he has seen fabric failures where the fabric wraps over the glass. I bet that is what happened here.
 
Lost the left window on an ECA, I wasn't even doing the A part. It sheared the rivets from the window hinge. Then proceeded to punch a hole the size of a softball right in the middle of the rear glass, sending the broken parts across to the other side and cracking that. All while the window flew
Around in the slip stream and wacked the right side
Stab and rudder punching some holes in that. I landed Un eventfully


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org
 
Oh i lost the window at 1000 agl . I found the window later that day in a field and there wasn't a scratch on it. Just replaced the rivets and the window was good to go.


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org
 
Beaverpilot said:
Oh i lost the window at 1000 agl . I found the window later that day in a field and there wasn't a scratch on it. Just replaced the rivets and the window was good to go.


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org
Click to expand...

And rebuilt that entire side of the plane!

Skylights, windows, tailwheels... we seem to drop stuff off planes- are we trying to get 'light'?:oops:
 
bob turner said:
I just talked to Ron at Rainbow Flying Service. He is a good guy, willing to share his expertise.

The wings have to come off. Ron recommends wood screws and dimpled washers every six inches along the sides. He says he has seen fabric failures where the fabric wraps over the glass. I bet that is what happened here.
Click to expand...
Bob, I'm feeling your pain. It is hard to believe that a manufacturer would make "improvements" which then require removing wings to replace a top window. :bang Can you pull just one wing or are the fasteners hidden under the wing root?
 
Not sure on this point yet. I believe the sides of the skylight are held with a simple glued-on fabric strip. Ron recommends wood screws, and I agree. The fabric fails at the 90 degree point.

So, yes, both wings come off. Fuel is the big pita. Unlike the Cub, control cables are not trivial.

Don't feel my pain. My bird is the earlier version, so no wing removal for windshield or skylight maintenance for me.
 
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