Open Seaplane door inflight

[Nev]

Has anyone with seaplane style doors opened them inflight ? I've got seaplane doors on my Bearhawk and am very interested, but haven't tried opening them inflight yet.

[rodsmith]

Do you taxi with them open, a fast taxi might give you an indication of how they might behave, definitely approach with caution. I'm not sure what a large surface that close to the bottom of the wing would do to lift.

[Nev]

I routinely taxi with the left door open on a hot day. Both doors are supported by fore and aft gas struts. Even so, due to the size of the doors there is some "flex". I don't need to open them in flight - it's not why I built them, but I wouldn't mind knowing what the effect would be if it happened.

[Ed.Meyer]

Don't know about the Bearhawk seaplane doors, but Cessnas sometimes have the them are opened in flight for skydivers. I have been in them for this and nothing noticeable regarding lift or controllability. Had to slow way down and pull on flaps to close the door in flight.

[Nev]

I have seaplane doors, but didn’t want to deal with testing to see if it would work so I built sliding windows like on a husky or cub. It added a bit of weight, but it’s worth it being able to fly with the windows open on a hot day.

I watched your walkaround build video Schu, you've got some fantastic features on yours.

[rodsmith]

Great looking panel, how about a picture of the whole panel.

[Nev]

Just revisiting this topic again to see if anyone has flown with a Seaplane style door open inflight - either deliberately or otherwise. There's quite a few of us with the full seaplane style doors now, I love mine for the ease getting in and out. Also great to have open on a hot day. Like everything, there's pro's and con's.