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any successful self rescue of overturned rv?

bryanrene

Active Member
Is anyone aware of a successful self rescue of overturned rv, especially of tip over? if so, did they break canopy and crawl out? i see posts about possible canopy breakers or accidents where someone rescued them but not a solo person away from an airport who got themselves out after an accident. Not excited about hanging upside down until i finally expire out in some farmers’s field at the end of an accident chain.
 
RV Canopy escape

We did some testing and found that a hatchet is the best and most consistent tool to break the canopy , hit as close to an attach point as possible it is gets harder the farther out you go as the plexi flexes too much .
I have mine velcroed in its mount above the passenger armrest in my 6
Peter
 
use a knoife!

I have a story written by Frank Eldridge Jr. about escaping from his RV-6A - I think it was a tip-up.

http://www.rv8.ch/rv6a-crash-and-the-knife-that-helped-the-pilot-escape/

20051007163110721_2_original.jpg
 
Aware of two -6 slider accidents where the occupants extricated through the canopy using a canopy breaker. Even with the canopy breaker, the canopy was left with lots of sharp edges that gave them cuts on the way out.
 
We did some testing and found that a hatchet is the best and most consistent tool to break the canopy , hit as close to an attach point as possible it is gets harder the farther out you go as the plexi flexes too much .
I have mine velcroed in its mount above the passenger armrest in my 6
Peter

Care to expand on your choice of hatchet?

Thanks!
 
One of my friends flipped his 6 on landing saw it happen. By the time we jumped on a 4wheeler and blasted up there (maybe 2 minutes). He was already out.

Slider on a grass strip. The canopy broke when it flipped and he punched out a few more chunks until he had a hole big enough to squirm out.

He’s a pretty big guy. 6’1” or so and maybe 230ish
 
Many many have flipped over and most have been non fatal... not all.

There has been excellent threads and videos on how to break a canopy for emergency egress. I carry a spring loaded bolt and pliers. Bolt to punch hole and pliers to make hole bigger.
 
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Not the Lifehammer!

Franks RV was a slider. He shared my hangar and I flew with him often
I was part of the canopy breaker test referenced by Peter C above. The Lifehammer might work well on safety glass, but’s a miserable tool for breaking acrylic plastic. A hatchet is MUCH better. We keep a survival-type hatchet with paracord wrapped around it stowed under the right seat cushions in our RV-6.
 
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