A sport cruiser pilot failed to completely close and lock the aircraft's canopy. The canopy opened t...

Attributes
ACN	842599
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Sport Aircraft
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Canopy Window
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 9 Flight Crew Total 1150 Flight Crew Type 45
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

Approximately one minute after takeoff and while climbing through 800 ft I looked up and saw that the canopy was partially open a few inches. I declared an emergency and turned back toward the airport. The canopy; which is hinged forward; then opened completely - straight up! Despite full power; the plane was gradually losing altitude. Cleared to land on any runway; I reached my departure runway and landed opposite direction - a little hard - but without damaging anything. This happened because I had previously failed to remove the pitot cover and had to abort a prior takeoff. I was upset and in a hurry; and having previously completed the pre-takeoff checklist; I didn't go through it again. Hence; no check to ensure that the canopy was properly secured. The only consolation is that I did a good job of flying the plane and getting down safely. All in all a sobering experience. No more skipping the checklist ever!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Sport Cruiser pilot failed to completely close and lock the aircraft's canopy. The canopy opened to a near vertical position preventing aircraft from accelerating or maintaining altitude. An emergency was declared while returning to land.

Narrative: Approximately one minute after takeoff and while climbing through 800 FT I looked up and saw that the canopy was partially open a few inches. I declared an emergency and turned back toward the airport. The canopy; which is hinged forward; then opened completely - straight up! Despite full power; the plane was gradually losing altitude. Cleared to land on any runway; I reached my departure runway and landed opposite direction - a little hard - but without damaging anything. This happened because I had previously failed to remove the pitot cover and had to abort a prior takeoff. I was upset and in a hurry; and having previously completed the pre-takeoff checklist; I didn't go through it again. Hence; no check to ensure that the canopy was properly secured. The only consolation is that I did a good job of flying the plane and getting down safely. All in all a sobering experience. No more skipping the checklist ever!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

A sport cruiser pilot failed to completely close and lock the aircraft's canopy. The canopy opened to a near vertical position preventing aircraft from accelerating or maintaining altitude. An emergency was declared while returning to land.