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A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO EZ COMPLETION
(From CP25, Page 3, July, 1980)

by Jud Bock Serial # 738.

     While doing some finnishing work in the back seat, I decided to close the canopy to check the rear head rest.  It felt great, so I went to open the canopy and 10 and behold the safety catch in the front cockpit was working perfectly!   There I was, all 210 lb of me, locked in the back seat with no tools or anything to reach the 4" more, required to release the catch.  My wife had just gone shopping and was not expected back for three quarters of an hour.  Did I panic?   Hell yes, because I was getting warm (hot actually!), and I decided to use my head and tried to use mind power to move the catch.    After that failure, I started thinking some more and it finally dawned on my dulled brain that I had shoes on, which I promptly removed one of and was out in less than 5 minutes.
     In another instance the builder had no shoes on.   He removed his pants, rolled them into a stick and used it to reach the catch!
     With consideration of this problem we designed the safety catch to be mounted at F.S.57 on the Long-EZ.   VariEze new construction should follow suit.