Flying without doors

With all the talk about door latch issues , and all the great ideas about how to solve the problem .. Here in Costa Rica the weather is not cold even at 10,000 ft and most of the 701s are flying around without doors , my question is does anyone know or has anyone documented the performance difference particularly cruise speed with and without doors

Thanks so much
Kevin Beriault

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Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on September 6, 2020 at 4:33am

Kevin I fly without doors for most of the year. There is a small cruise speed penalty but it’s not significant. I will look through my notes. But I leave them off because I enjoy the experience, not for fear of a door opening in flight, because I modified my doors to add additional latch points at the front and the back of each door. 

Permalink Reply by Kevin Beriault on September 6, 2020 at 8:43am
Jim and Amelia
Thanks so much for your comments , I did a triple attachment on my doors so my doors flying off is not the reason either , but frankly I feel the same way about being cooped up , its very hot and humid here and love the idea of the open cockpit just can’t find any performance numbers that quantify the costs of doing so ...
Thanks so much
Kevin
Permalink Reply by David J. Beaulieu on September 6, 2020 at 9:16am

I gain abou 5 knots with the doors on versus off when I fly with floats.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Beriault on September 6, 2020 at 9:29am

 David from the sounds of it you fly with the doors off most of the time ..

Thanks for the feed back

Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on September 6, 2020 at 2:18pm

Kevin that sounds about right for my aircraft too. 

Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on September 6, 2020 at 3:26pm

Oh forgot to add, and worth it. I LOVE flying my 701 doors off. 

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