I flew my glider today for maybe the last time until spring here in the Midwest. But this is not what this story is about. And it isn't about the sun spots you might be thinking of either.

A young couple with children walked up to me while I was assembling and I let the three and five year old kids climb in. Important to this story is that I took off my thin silver canopy cover to give everyone a better view. The husband is a power pilot and I was describing the instruments to him.

With my fuselage pointing north, and with the intense fall sun low in the southern sky behind me, I worried about the inside of my curved canopy focusing the sun's rays and burning an instrument. I have seen this happen before. So I covered most of my panel, and my big GPS display, with a micro fiber towel.

While explaining why I was covering things up the husband said, "Look, there is a sun spot already". No sooner had he said that we saw a small curl of smoke and then a hole being melted into the towel! Never seen THIS before.
Needless to say I quickly replaced my silver canopy cover which, luckily, has the "sunscreen flap" option.

I realize now that if I had just left the towel in place, and had walked away, the sun would have burned right through the towel and into an instrument or two - possibly right along a nice long ugly arc. Ouch!

Words to the wise > Protect your instruments!

John "Spots" DeRosa (OHM)

On Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 9:25:10 AM UTC-7, John DeRosa OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
> I flew my glider today for maybe the last time until spring here in the Midwest. But this is not what this story is about. And it isn't about the sun spots you might be thinking of either.
>
> A young couple with children walked up to me while I was assembling and I let the three and five year old kids climb in. Important to this story is that I took off my thin silver canopy cover to give everyone a better view. The husband is a power pilot and I was describing the instruments to him.
>
> With my fuselage pointing north, and with the intense fall sun low in the southern sky behind me, I worried about the inside of my curved canopy focusing the sun's rays and burning an instrument. I have seen this happen before. So I covered most of my panel, and my big GPS display, with a micro fiber towel.
>
> While explaining why I was covering things up the husband said, "Look, there is a sun spot already". No sooner had he said that we saw a small curl of smoke and then a hole being melted into the towel! Never seen THIS before.
> Needless to say I quickly replaced my silver canopy cover which, luckily, has the "sunscreen flap" option.
>
> I realize now that if I had just left the towel in place, and had walked away, the sun would have burned right through the towel and into an instrument or two - possibly right along a nice long ugly arc. Ouch!
>
> Words to the wise > Protect your instruments!
>
> John "Spots" DeRosa (OHM)

That’s exactly what happened to an ASH-25 about 25 years ago. The pilots went to the pilots meeting leaving both canopies open and a cloth canopy cover placed over the instruments panels. Sun spot caught the cloth covering on fire and away she went!
By the time the local fire department arrived, both cockpits were roaring! They put the fire out with generous amounts of water, leaving the fuselage half full of water! I can still see it today in my minds eye, Maps and hats floating in dirty water!
JJ

Excellent alert....and I'll add lets all watch out for each other as we ascend into our twilight years of mental distractions. I have often laid a towel over my instruments followed by the canopy cover when I exit the cockpit.
But, never thinking about sunspot fire. Just direct sun.
It only takes a minute.
This topic will make a good safety talk.
Boy, would I be one pis.sed off hombre finding my cockpit ablazed.
No four letter word exist.
R

On Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 11:03:30 AM UTC-7, R wrote:
> Excellent alert....and I'll add lets all watch out for each other as we ascend into our twilight years of mental distractions. I have often laid a towel over my instruments followed by the canopy cover when I exit the cockpit.
> But, never thinking about sunspot fire. Just direct sun.
> It only takes a minute.
> This topic will make a good safety talk.
> Boy, would I be one pis.sed off hombre finding my cockpit ablazed.
> No four letter word exist.
> R

I had one vario damaged because of this that cost me $500 to get fixed. Since then, I have made a sun reflector that fits inside the canopy (this allows you to close - and lock - it) using reflective foil insulation:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflectix-48-in-x-25-ft-Double-Reflective-Insulation-Roll-BP48025/100052556
Many hardware stores will cut it to length so you don't have to buy an entire roll.

Since I can lock the canopy I can leave the glider unattended out on the ramp. You can't lock the canopy with the stretch type covers and I know of one case where a wind gust blew the canopy open and damaged the mechanism.

Tom

On Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 2:54:55 PM UTC-4, 2G wrote:
> On Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 11:03:30 AM UTC-7, R wrote:
> > Excellent alert....and I'll add lets all watch out for each other as we ascend into our twilight years of mental distractions. I have often laid a towel over my instruments followed by the canopy cover when I exit the cockpit.
> > But, never thinking about sunspot fire. Just direct sun.
> > It only takes a minute.
> > This topic will make a good safety talk.
> > Boy, would I be one pis.sed off hombre finding my cockpit ablazed.
> > No four letter word exist.
> > R
> I had one vario damaged because of this that cost me $500 to get fixed. Since then, I have made a sun reflector that fits inside the canopy (this allows you to close - and lock - it) using reflective foil insulation:
> https://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflectix-48-in-x-25-ft-Double-Reflective-Insulation-Roll-BP48025/100052556
> Many hardware stores will cut it to length so you don't have to buy an entire roll.
>
> Since I can lock the canopy I can leave the glider unattended out on the ramp. You can't lock the canopy with the stretch type covers and I know of one case where a wind gust blew the canopy open and damaged the mechanism.
>
> Tom
Thanks for these reminders. I am thinking canopy closed with cover on. Period.