After visiting family in Prague I was ready to make the 2:40 – leg from Letnany (LKLT) back to my home base near Frankfurt. The FPL is filed, weather is acceptable and Praha Information gave me a release by phone. I was on my way departing Runway 05L with cleared left turn into the CTR direct Romeo.
However, something feels odd. During my setup for the IFR pickup i realized, what it was. The aircraft is trimmed slightly to the right and the noise is quite loud. Within moments, I see, that the door of my P28 is not latched properly. Some planes do have a strap to help close the door by pulling on it, however not the Arrow-Version I am flying with. Not sure what happened but this is a state that I do not feel comfortable flying the next 2 hours. The door needs closed. being solo I give it some try to close the door, but soon have to realize that doing that and flying „direct Romeo not above 2000ft“ with some industrial chimneys around is quite challenging and too dangerous.
I quickly go through the possible scenarios. The options are to continue in a loud and cold environment probably impacting aerodynamics, speed and fuel burn on the trip or wait to exit the dense environment around Prague and try to close it enroute. What if it does not work? Within moments I decide, that the safest option would be a turnaround back to Letnany. „Kbelly Radar, my door is open, I need to return to the airfield“.
Not sure what I had started with my call and if my flight plans now is somehow screwed, it turned out easy and uncomplicated „Delta Mike India, no problem, turn left direct Letnany, crossing Kbelly runway Center line approved“ and later „… direct final 05 for Letnany and call Letnany Radio on …“ After I told Letnany, that I just need to shut the door, they approved a backtrack 05L and to report when ready to depart again.
So my 3rd IFR solo flight started with a 7 minutes extended traffic pattern through Kbelly CTR and a 3 minutes stopover at Letnany before it really departed on a long trip back to Germany.
My takeaway from this: Better safe than sorry. Everyone is there to help and if the fix for a problem is a 10 minutes delay plus EUR 16,- additional landing fee, then this is quite a deal.