[Morten]

There's a couple of clubs you'd rather not be a member of which are sometimes referred to as "you either have or you have not yet" clubs.
Gear up landing
Engine failure
Have live mike whilst telling your passengers how those people in the tower annoy you
Take off with towbar attached/wallet on wing
etc.

Or, in my case, take off without making sure that the canopy is closed and latched. And making doubly sure that the canopy is closed and latched. Or making a conscious slap on the canopy part of the 'lights, camera, action' routine. Or any and all of the above.

Needless to say, the operator is entirely at fault and in a way I had a far better outcome than it could have been. As I opened the throttle and was glancing down at the ASI to come up, the canopy slid backwards, sucked upwards, dealt me a striking glance to the forehead and took my glasses with it but luckily did not appear to touch any other part of the aircraft on its way down to the grass where it shattered.

So aircraft OK, pilot OK and even pilot's glasses also OK. Canopy frame and bubble not so OK...

I'd like to say I've learnt my lesson but I have a sneaking suspicion this one will take a while to sink in and get through. My routines are clearly lacking.

So, if anyone has a spare Pitts double seater canopy hanging around or know of one hanging around, please let me know as I'd like to get back in to the air ...

[nallen]

Ouch. Glad you're OK -- that is the main thing, after all. (Now, what would have happened if the canopy had removed your glasses when you were airborne … spare pair to hand?)

(Other clubs that are available: trying to take off in a motorglider with the airbrakes out … yes, I did feel foolish.)

[tomtytom]

Have live mike whilst telling your passengers how those people in the tower annoy you

oooooo that would be a rough club to join!

[Ibra]

Misunderstand something and pretend later you want another one and that you know what you are doing !

Cleared for 02, flew to 20 by mistake, caught it but I still insisted I wanted to land with 5kts tailwind

[Rob L]

Ouch. Those S2 canopies are expensive; I know of two that got broken in the last five years or so (different aircraft). Get in touch with your insurance broker toute suite.

Well done for being open & honest about it.

[Morten]

To add a layer of frustration, although it's a Pitts S2 canopy, it has been fitted to an Acrosport, which has a wider cockpit. The builder did this by making the frame 2" wider and then fitting the bubble to that wider frame. No mean feat...
So a standard S2 replacement part doesn't fit as it needs to slide back over the turtle deck. The frame is serviceable but will need some work - or maybe just start from scratch with a replacement frame and widen it. But, as you say, when the hardware is expensive to begin with, it'd be a good one not to get wrong...

Ah yes, spare glasses... I fly with a pair of glasses (sunglasses/non-sun). I fly with one and leave the other in the case in a cubbyhole. So worse case would be to fly without sunglasses. However, had it happened in flight at full trot and knocked my glasses off I'm not sure lack of glasses would be my main worry...

[Rob L]

Could be worse...I understand the canopy for an Extra EA200 runs to about 8000 euros.

[Lefty]

Could be worse...I understand the canopy for an Extra EA200 runs to about 8000 euros.

Crikey, didn’t know I had such valuable cargo in the back. (Bit different from coffins though!)

[Rob L]

Maybe it's the 300 that is 8000 Euros...the two-seater one.

Coffins are cheap & clean; the contents less so

[leiafee]

Ouch.

Much sympathy - that’s an oversight which literally any of us could easily have made, it’s a real bugger that this particular example means it’s such expensive damage.

Was there a particular distraction or interuption?

[Lefty]

Maybe it's the 300 that is 8000 Euros...the two-seater one.

Coffins are cheap & clean; the contents less so

That is a 300 canopy that was (very carefully) squeezed into my Six with approx 1,5 inches to spare. The measurements were so tight that before we flew to collect it, we built a full size wooden mock-up to prove it would fit.