IAD96LA072

After leveling the airplane at 6000 feet msl, the pilot noticed that the upper half of the clamshell cockpit door had become ajar, and the door unsafe light illuminated. The pilot attempted to secure the door, but it separated from the aircraft. During the occurrence, the pilot's left hand was seriously injured. He was not certain of how the injury occurred, but he believed that his left hand had contacted the left engine propeller blades. He wrapped his hand in a flight jacket and made an emergency landing, where he received medical attention. Attempts to recover the upper half of the clamshell door for further examination were unsuccessful.

On May 6, 1996, at about 2145 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-60-600, N222KD, operated by New Creations, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, sustained minor damage when the pilot's door opened while the airplane was in cruise flight at 6000 feet mean sea level (msl) in the vicinity of Syracuse, New York. The commercial pilot sustained serious injuries when the left engine propeller blade(s) struck his left thumb and fore finger. The pilot declared an emergency and diverted to Syracuse, where the airplane landed on runway 28, without further incident. The flight was intended to be a positioning flight, from Utica, New York, to Buffalo, New York. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

The pilot stated that as the airspeed increased from climb to cruise airspeed as the airplane leveled off at 6,000 feet msl, he noticed that the cockpit door became ajar and the door unsafe light illuminated. He said that he engaged the autopilot and adjusted his seat rearward to better observe the door. He said that he noticed a gap of about 1/2 to 1 inch between the door and frame closest to the instrument panel and saw and heard the door vibrating. He reported that he tried to move the door forward in an attempt to secure the safety retaining pin in the door. The pilot stated that the next thing he recalled was hearing a loud noise, and then retracting his injured left hand back into the cockpit. He reported that he wrapped his injured hand in his flight jacket, and decided to divert to Syracuse, New York. He contacted Syracuse Approach Control to declare an in-flight emergency, and requested that emergency vehicles and an ambulance meet the airplane after landing at Syracuse Airport. He said that he landed the airplane without further incident, turned right off the runway, shut down the engines and received medical attention.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Inspector, postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the upper half of the clamshell style door was missing, and there was a small dent in the top of the cabin. The FAA Inspector reported that there was a large amount of blood in the left pilot seat area, and some on the exterior of the aircraft in the vicinity of the left wing root fairing. The FAA Inspector stated "[The pilot] is not sure what caused the injury to his left hand, however, it appears that once his hand disengaged the door handle, the slipstream carried it aft where it was struck by the propeller." The upper half of the clamshell door was not recovered.