What happened
On 5 July 2013, a Europa aircraft, registration G-OURO, was involved in an incident during a private flight at Turweston Airfield, Buckinghamshire. During the pre-flight preparations, the aircraft's gull-wing doors were closed. However, the pilot did not perform a visual inspection to confirm that the rear securing pin was correctly engaged to lock the door.
As the aircraft climbed, the pilot did not become aware of the unsecured door until the aircraft reached approximately 300 ft. At this altitude, the pilot's door opened and, after roughly four seconds, became detached from the airframe. The departing door struck the trailing edge of the port wing, resulting in superficial damage to the wing and damage to the detached door itself. Following the incident, the pilot issued a 'PAN PAN' call and successfully returned to Turwest0 for a normal landing. There were no injuries to the pilot or the passenger on board.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the sequence of events leading to the door's separation and the pilot's pre-flight procedures. The AAIB established that while the doors had been closed, the pilot had neglected to turn around to verify the status of the rear locking pin. The investigation confirmed that the loss of the door was directly linked to this failure to carry out a visual check for the correct engagement of the rear locking mechanism.