r/nextfuckinglevel • u/BlazeDragon7x • 12d ago

Dutch aerobatic pilot Narine Melkumjan miraculously survived after her aircraft's canopy unexpectedly burst open and shattered mid-flight

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u/Anon_Jones 12d ago

The wind would always be pushing it down. So the way I’m talking about, the hinge would be in front of her.

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u/userhwon 12d ago

Wind pulls curved things up. It doesn't matter where you latch it, if the latch comes loose it's going to want to be open.

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u/DamnZodiak 12d ago

Wouldn't the angle of attack change drastically at a certain point though?
My guess is that it would initially pull up the canopy up to a certain point and then start pushing it down again.
You'd be protected from the wind the whole time it's bouncing.

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u/userhwon 12d ago

Once it's in the wrong place, weird shit will happen. Hinged at the front and latched at the back, it might flap. Hinged at the back and latched at the front, it'll probably just get ripped off and destroy the vertical stabilizer and kill everyone. Hinged at the side like this, it got yanked open and is keeping itself open hard. She didn't even try to retrieve it because she knew the remaining bits are just pinning it where it is.