I
IFLYHI
So there I was.... on the ramp in ACK last night trying to open the door on the shiny new 900XP (300 hours) that I fly. Door handle wouldn't budge.... CEO standing in the galley waiting to get off... I was perplexed to say the least! So we called the FBO on the radio and asked them to send someone out to try to open it from the outside. He comes out, tries to open it and says "It's locked". "Not possible", said I, but we passed the keys out the window anyway in a last ditch effort, as we were running out of ideas. Turns out the door WAS LOCKED.
After investigating the situation, we determined that it is possible in our airplane to close the door with the handle locking pin extended in the locked position. Our mechanic (who closed the door for us on departure) apparently had to push slightly harder than normal, but the door handle deflects to the right (aft) enough to allow it to pass by the pin receptacle (the six sided nut) and go into the hole. We also found that the door can be opened from the outside (when locked) by pulling the handle to the right and out at the same time.
The maintenance diagram shows a clearance limit between the door handle and the lock receptacle. I think it is .003 to .0048 inches. Ours exceeds the upper limit, so the fix is to add a washer and shim the receptacle out, which hopefully will solve the issue. In the meantime, we've removed the locking pin and MEL'ed the lock.
This was certainly a first for me... Locked inside my airplane!
After investigating the situation, we determined that it is possible in our airplane to close the door with the handle locking pin extended in the locked position. Our mechanic (who closed the door for us on departure) apparently had to push slightly harder than normal, but the door handle deflects to the right (aft) enough to allow it to pass by the pin receptacle (the six sided nut) and go into the hole. We also found that the door can be opened from the outside (when locked) by pulling the handle to the right and out at the same time.
The maintenance diagram shows a clearance limit between the door handle and the lock receptacle. I think it is .003 to .0048 inches. Ours exceeds the upper limit, so the fix is to add a washer and shim the receptacle out, which hopefully will solve the issue. In the meantime, we've removed the locking pin and MEL'ed the lock.
This was certainly a first for me... Locked inside my airplane!
