4K AVIATION B-ROLL - US Navy T-6A “Texan II”, canopy unlocked emergency, 07Mar23

GoPro Hero 9
4k aviation B-roll footage
Tuesday March 7, 2023
Stennis International Airport (KHSA)
US Navy T-6A "Texan II"
BuNo 165975 "KATT 10"
Training Squadron Ten (VT-10)
Student Naval Flight Officer (SNFO) primary flight instruction
"Canopy unlocked" in flight emergency
This video contains unclassified information on the T-6A “Texan II” airplane and was created with appropriate chain of command approval. Viewpoints or opinions expressed, if any, do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the United States Navy. This video shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the United States Navy.

[@whclcdr]

Some things never change remember in the T2 my first emergency. The instructor kept repeating don’t touch anything. Don’t touch anything. Don’t touch anything so finally I just had my hands up in the air to do something with the checklist and or once we landed

[@photo01aviation]

@@whclcdr The student did a great job, especially considering how “canopy unsafe in flight” is possibly the most serious emergency in the T-6 since it takes away our ability to eject, especially if the aircraft were to have gone OCF down low. Lots of stress and he responded well!

[@charlies40556]

@@photo01aviation Not familiar with the T-6 why is the canopy being open or gone in flight stop being able to eject? I wanna guess and think if the canopy stays open you might eject straight into it.

[@photo01aviation]

@@charlies40556If the canopy is anything but fully closed and latched our NATOPS specifically tells us not to eject. This is because some to all of the frame will be in the path of the seats. Additionally, the canopy firing system (CFS) cannot fire the det cord to fracture the canopy if the canopy frame is not shut fully, so ejecting with the canopy open means the seats will very possibly strike an un-fractured canopy which greatly increases the risk to the aircrew.

[@charlies40556]

@@photo01aviation Awesome info thank you!

[@kellan.mitchell]

i live next to stennis and spot here all the time. i stand on the patio at the fbo. i love seeing t-6’s come in. I actually have a patch from yall, and i may have met yall before.

[@toons3081]

Where's your gloves? Didn't know they were optional now...

[@timberskypilot]

Good calm instructor! Great job! Probably the canopy seal as it pressurized.

[@photo01aviation]

Thanks so much! I’ve been very fortunate to have several serious and less than serious in flight emergencies when flying a prior airframe, so the more you are exposed to stress the better your response will be..

[@barrygrant2907]

The only thing I might add, being a maintenance guy, would have been have maintenance meet the aircraft when parked before anything in the canopy lock/release was touched. Might be helpful to see the actual condition before the canopy was raised.

[@photo01aviation]

@@barrygrant2907 That is a great suggestion! Unfortunately we were off station when this issue occurred so I did my best to get several photos of the canopy and those (plus this video) were helpful to our skilled maintenance team in troubleshooting the issue. In the end they were able to duplicate the fault and get a fix done, so all ended up working out the way it was supposed to.

[@Oni76]

First, I appreciate you sharing this and for your service. Out of curiosity, is there an emergency procedure for if the latch does come open as how to proceed? I know you advised the student to not touch the canopy, and my assumption would be that fiddling with the latch may release it making the situation worse. I guess my question is could one have attempted to re-latch the canopy at all? I imagine the lift over the canopy at those speeds can cause it to violently rip open once the latch becomes dislodged. Lastly, looking back on this now besides the prior comment of checking the unlock/lock switch, is there anything else you would've done differently during this emergency? Obviously, you handled it great and the end result was everyone even including the plane safely on the ground, so not much more one can ask for I feel.

[@photo01aviation]

Thank you for the great questions! There is a non-memory EP for “canopy unlocked in flight” which says (broadly) to slow to below 150 KIAS and land the airplane. You can hear that in the moment I added the step of ensuring I was in coordinated flight because I recognized that any sort of sideslip would cause air to flow under the then-open canopy and could exacerbate the problem. The EP also explicitly states not to attempt to relatch the canopy because in doing so there is a very real possibility that you will inadvertently unlock the canopy causing the canopy to swing 90 degrees fully open - as you stated this would be very bad and result in loss of control of the aircraft and take away the ability to eject.. What would I have done differently? I certainly would have hawked the lock/ unlock switch much better on preflight, though in fairness prior to this EP there was no reason (as per the checklist/ NATOPS) to have done so. As a viewer pointed out I should have been wearing my NOMEX gloves (an oversight on my part that day), and finally I probably should have widened out my turn from the downwind to final just to slow things down and ensure that I stayed in coordinated flight without requiring such an angle of bank.

[@Oni76]

@@photo01aviation I really appreciate you taking the time to share you insight and feedback on that!

[@tripodcatz5532]

Looks like the canopy was never locked before takeoff though (looking at the lock/unlock lever just aft of the main latch handle)? What was the final determination of the cause?

[@photo01aviation]

@@tripodcatz5532 Great question! The canopy was closed correctly in accordance with the NATOPS procedure, but as you correctly point out the lock/ unlocked indicator was neither fully locked or unlocked. Neither the pocket check list (PCL) nor the expanded NATOPS manual make any mention of checking the lock/ unlock indicator after op-checking the canopy handle (which checked good from the front and back cockpits), but on every subsequent flight in the T-6A I flew you had better believe I checked it going forward! The maintenance investigation found several internal parts in the canopy frame that were out of tolerance which are what allowed the canopy to appear to close normally but later open in flight just as the aircraft became airborne.

[@williamtuepker]

Nice job. Was the student performing the TO from the RCP? I couldn’t tell clearly who had aircraft control, but no “I have the aircraft” calls were made. It didn’t look like the FCP performed the rotation. Just curious.

[@photo01aviation]

@@williamtuepker Great question - since the student is a NFO in training they do not fly the aircraft from the back seat. So I was on the controls for the entirety of the flight. Thanks for asking!

[@williamtuepker]

@@photo01aviation That makes sense. Glad everyone is safe. ATC was quick too and handled the situation well.

[@ChuckMahon]

"don't touch anything" = don't you dare blow the canopy or command eject us! 😂

[@photo01aviation]

@@ChuckMahon Sometimes the right thing to do is nothing! Wind the watch and just breathe..

[@mcnugget3851]

What about the remove before flight pin on the canopy?

[@photo01aviation]

The pin visible in the video arms (and safes) the ejection seat, so aircrew remove it before takeoff and reinsert after landing. Great question!

[@tripodcatz5532]

That's were the canopy shatter system pull handle safety pin is normally stored during flight. Just a coincidence that it's there when this happened.

[@CramcrumBrewbringer]

@@tripodcatz5532 No, that's where the ejection seat pin is stowed. CFS handle pin goes in the RCP box.

[@tripodcatz5532]

@@CramcrumBrewbringer Well that explains why the CFS handle pin never fit right in the canopy slot thingy. Flying is a lot harder than you might think.

[@photo01aviation]

@@CramcrumBrewbringer These days we actually fly with the CFS pins installed at all times. Wild to me at first, because back when I was a SNA (2015) we removed the CFS pins and stowed them in the CFS storage box just as you described!

[@JetlinerX]

What made this such a serious emergency? From my perspective, knowing nothing about this aircraft in particular, I would assume it's similar to a door or a canopy in a civilian aircraft coming loose? Possibly in this situation it disarms the ability to eject?

[@photo01aviation]

@@JetlinerX Great question! Just as in the case of a similar Navy aircraft with a side-opening canopy (ie T-45) had the canopy opened the rest of the way the aircraft would have rolled uncontrollably around the longitudinal axis. Given how low we were to the ground during the initial emergency, such a roll would have been unrecoverable. Additionally, with the canopy open we could not have used the final flight control (ejection handle) because with the canopy and frame floating in space above us we would have hit it while egressing. Again, just all bad options!

[@williamedmonds9581]

Did he not see the REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT pin on the canopy handle?

[@photo01aviation]

@@williamedmonds9581 Great question! The “remove before flight” pin and associated red tag are part of the ejection seat safety system, so we remove the pin from the ejection seat handle and place it onto the canopy handle as part of our normal checklist.

[@williamedmonds9581]

@@photo01aviation ok then, I stand corrected. I don’t know this plane, so the red tag stood out to me as soon as the video started. When the handle moved I figured it had to do something with that pin.

[@CramcrumBrewbringer]

@@williamedmonds9581 If you don't know the plane, why are you acting like you know about it?

[@photo01aviation]

@@CramcrumBrewbringerNo worries - we all have to learn somehow and I’m happy to answer questions. Cheers!

[@williamedmonds9581]

@@CramcrumBrewbringer I’m a pilot, mechanic and inspector. I’ve been flying for probably more years than you’ve been alive. I saw a remove before flight and that was the handle that moved. So yes I assumed. I was corrected and I learned something new. I’ve flown the original T-6’s, T-28’s, countless Cessna, Piper, Beech models and own an O-2A Skymaster. So anything red or states Remove Before Flight I pay attention too. What aviation experience or background do you have?

[@AngryPilot77]

No gloves…

[@photo01aviation]

@@AngryPilot77 Great catch!