The Cessna 120-140 Association Forum

Can anyone give the detail on how to ensure the top of the door stays closed so that what little heat we have does not leave the plane via the top of both doors. The Low pressure area outside sucks the tops out enough to create a very cold draft.

4843 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 15, 2018 2:23 pm Can anyone give the detail on how to ensure the top of the door stays closed so that what little heat we have does not leave the plane via the top of both doors. The Low pressure area outside sucks the tops out enough to create a very cold draft.

Patrick, you may want to pose this question over on the Technical Discussion forum...that said, I've seen everything from bungies (short, from door top to inside of door frame or, believe it or not, stretched all the way across from one door top to the other) to Cessna 150, Volkswagen & other auto window latches "repurposed". I don't know of any "standard" way of attaching. It's likely no surprise that we seem to never hear of carbon monoxide issues with our planes as there's plenty of air "exchange" . Mac

Before you do anything else, take the door panels off and look at the area around the door latch. Mine were cracked on the inner skin in a way that made the door very flexible along the rear edge. When I fixed the cracks the tendency to pull open at the top was greatly reduced.

I was ski flying last Sunday and as I turned my head to look at my 7o'clock I clearly saw the air gap on the top of the door. I remembered your post and wanted to take a picture....but not the easiest position to do so.
It has been like that since I have the plane. For winter season we tried different things, like 1/2'' x 1/8'' foam sticky tape to bridge the gap, speed tape stick to frame of plane to create some kind of seal when we close the door.
So far, not a solution has given great results, but they were okay to reduce the air draft.

Good luck!