Nose baggage door of a cessna 402 opened in flight shortly after lift off.

Attributes
ACN	839813
Time
Date	200906
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 402/402C/B379 Businessliner/Utiliner
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cargo Door
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 320 Flight Crew Total 24000 Flight Crew Type 17000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

Narrative:

On takeoff; as the gear was coming up; I noticed the aft top edge of the nose baggage door move out about an inch; followed in about five seconds by the nose baggage door opening. I informed the tower that we had to return. Entered pattern and landed normally. Post flight inspection found the aft baggage door hinge had broken. The door operated normally prior to the flight. One possible solution would be to limit the size of bags people are allowed to check; although this is probably not feasible.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Nose baggage door of a Cessna 402 opened in flight shortly after lift off.

Narrative: On takeoff; as the gear was coming up; I noticed the aft top edge of the nose baggage door move out about an inch; followed in about five seconds by the nose baggage door opening. I informed the tower that we had to return. Entered pattern and landed normally. Post flight inspection found the aft baggage door hinge had broken. The door operated normally prior to the flight. One possible solution would be to limit the size of bags people are allowed to check; although this is probably not feasible.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.