Canopy Side Windows

Canopy Side Windows on the 4 Place

Mechanical Difficulty: -

Tip: Don't even THINK about doing this except in warm weather or unless you can move the canopy assembly to a heated room indoors. Its critical that the plexiglass temperature be at least a comfortable room temperature, and warm enough that you are sweating on it is even better.

Canopy Removal

The AA-5x canopy side windows slide in from the bottom, and that means that step one is to remove the canopy assembly from the plane. To do this remove the bottom row of screws on the canopy. There are 2 shims at the aft edge held on by the last 2 screws on each side, be sure to keep them for re-installation.

After all the bottom row of screws is out, the canopy can be lifted straight up and off of the plane. This ought to be done by at least 2 people, and 3 would offer an additional level of safety. With a helper on the opposite wing root, lift the canopy straight up, taking care not to scratch the quarter windows with the sharp corners at the aft edge of the canopy. Once the canopy is above the turtledeck height, carefully hand it over to one person on the wing root. The other person then gets off the wing and comes to the trailing edge of the wing so that the person holding the canopy can hand it down. The canopy should be placed upside down on a padded surface. A packing blanket or sleeping bag folded a few times is a good pad on the ground.

Taking the interior plastic trim out

The windows are clamped to the frame at the "bottom" by another row of screws that hold the bottom of the window frame in place. Remove the screws and the stiffener can be removed. The interior plastic is sandwiched between the stiffener and the outside canopy. The interior plastic can now be removed. There are screws and rivets along the front edge of the plastic under the canopy bow seal. Remove the seal. Its probably old and in need of replacement anyway. A stiff bladed putty knife can help shear the glue that holds the seal in place. Use 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner to soften the glue and remove it from the bow. Under the glue the pull rivet heads and the screws can be found.

Remove the screws and carefully drill out the rivets. Best practice is to use a small punch to tap the rivet stem back out of the way and then drill the rivet using the mandrel hole as a pilot. Use a 1/8th inch drill bit to avoid drilling the holes over-size.

There are a series of rivets along the aft bow of the canopy as well. Remove them the same way as those of the front bow.

With all the rivets and screws at the 2 bows out of the way, remove the #4 screws that hold the cover on the canopy latch and the center panel of the headliner in place. Remove the #6 screws above each window and the interior trim should now be free to come out.

Removing each window

The windows slide in the tracks. Hence the need for the plastic to be warm. With the curvature of the canopy, the window must bend to slide out or in.

There is not much spare room to maneuver the window in the tracks, so the best plan is to "walk" it out about 1" at a time, alternating front and back. This takes 2 people to hold the canopy frame and move the plexi.

More to come...

Patience is a virtue! <G>