An evektor sport star canopy came opened in flight probably because it was not fully latched but the...

Narrative:

I departed runway and was cleared to make right turn heading south southeast. While climbing to 2;500 ft MSL my canopy blew open causing a struggle to control the aircraft. I immediately tried to radio the tower but my headphones blew off into the back of plane. I struggled to keep control of aircraft while trying to hold the canopy down. For fear that I would lose the canopy and strike the tail of the plane I hung onto the canopy with one hand while flying with the other. I had no one in the plane to assist me during this event. Each time the canopy got away from me in the below zero temperatures; and extreme pressures; the plane nose dived losing altitude. I recovered barely before the ground. I made a turn to go back to the airport 4 miles back. I was not able to reach for the transponder or radios as this was an emergency. I flew back without being able to radio the tower and landed on runway after checking final was clear. When I cleared the runway I reached into the back and retrieved my headphones. I called the tower then and was advised to phone the tower. I described the incident to the tower and told him I could not take my hands off the canopy and controls. This incident was a struggle for my life. The incident that caused this may have been the latch was not fully locked or the headphone wire was partially in the latch. To correct for this to never happen again I am going to check that the latch is locked and secured and nothing is entangled in it. I am also going to put a secondary strap to secure canopy so if it did open up one can fly with two hands and keep control of the aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Evektor Sport Star canopy came opened in flight probably because it was not fully latched but the pilot barely able to control the aircraft while keeping the canopy on; made an emergency NORDO return to the departure airport.

Narrative: I departed runway and was cleared to make right turn heading south southeast. While climbing to 2;500 FT MSL my canopy blew open causing a struggle to control the aircraft. I immediately tried to radio the Tower but my headphones blew off into the back of plane. I struggled to keep control of aircraft while trying to hold the canopy down. For fear that I would lose the canopy and strike the tail of the plane I hung onto the canopy with one hand while flying with the other. I had no one in the plane to assist me during this event. Each time the canopy got away from me in the below zero temperatures; and extreme pressures; the plane nose dived losing altitude. I recovered barely before the ground. I made a turn to go back to the airport 4 miles back. I was not able to reach for the transponder or radios as this was an emergency. I flew back without being able to radio the Tower and landed on runway after checking final was clear. When I cleared the runway I reached into the back and retrieved my headphones. I called the Tower then and was advised to phone the Tower. I described the incident to the Tower and told him I could not take my hands off the canopy and controls. This incident was a struggle for my life. The incident that caused this may have been the latch was not fully locked or the headphone wire was partially in the latch. To correct for this to never happen again I am going to check that the latch is locked and secured and nothing is entangled in it. I am also going to put a secondary strap to secure canopy so if it did open up one can fly with two hands and keep control of the aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1065084
Time
Date	201302
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Sport Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Exterior Pax/Crew Door
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Sport / Recreational
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 225 Flight Crew Type 200
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

An evektor sport star canopy came opened in flight probably because it was not fully latched but the pilot barely able to control the aircraft while keeping the canopy on; made an emergency NORDO return to the departure airport.