The day’s mission was a 1450-mile round trip to retrieve a friend’s son for a holiday visit. My V35 Bonanza had been fueled the night before for an early departure, and the two passengers arrived on schedule. After passenger briefings and an explanation of how to open and close the cabin door, among other items, we launched.
As we accelerated in initial climb, it became obvious the door wasn’t correctly latched. The departure airport was a bit tight for me under that circumstance, so we slowed down and cruised to a nearby facility with longer runways. Along the way, I cautioned my right-seat passenger to not lean on the door—don’t even touch it until we were back on the ground, in fact—and we made an uneventful landing.
