Re: REFLECTOR: Nose gear guide

["Rob Morgan" <morgan_rob@hotmail.com>]

Al,
In one of my early flights I did a touch and go (in this case more of a 
bounce and go) and my nose wheel turned sideways (I even have it on 
video tape) unbeknownst to me.  Since I was doing touch and goes I did 
not retract the gear.  The next landing was very interesting (also on 
video tape).  The gear came down, then bounced me up and the wheel spun 
around several times, straightening out when it finally came in contact 
with the runway the last time.  Thank goodness I did not try to retract 
it.  I suspect it would have done damage to the gear door lip before the 
hydraulic pump stalled.  I did have to replace the front fork which bent 
enough to touch the tire.  Since then I have always done a short roll on 
the nose wheel when doing touch and goes to ensure the wheel is 
straight.  The reason I was doing touch and goes, was to find the right 
tension on the nose pivot.  I finally came to the conclusion the 15 lbs 
indicated in the manual was too much and caused me to use my brakes 
excessivly.  Having reduced the tension, I then installed a guide made 
from hardware store aluminum that works great. It also gave me a place 
to relocate the sequence valve that is dead simple and it works great 
too, with absolutely no slamming of the doors since the valve is opened 
prior to the main gear being all the way up.

>From: "Al Gietzen" <alventures@email.msn.com>
>To: "reflector" <reflector@awpi.com>
>Subject: REFLECTOR: Nose gear guide
>Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 21:44:48 -0700
>Reply-To: reflector@awpi.com, "Al Gietzen" <alventures@email.msn.com>
>
>Just wondered if I was missing something here.  I see the "Nose Gear 
Guide"
>as a KPC in the latest Velocity Views. With the nose wheel pivot drag
>adjusted according to spec, I'm guessing it would take about a 3 G 
direct
>side load to change the orientation of the wheel in the well. No way to 
get
>anything approaching that; short of (sorry) crashing.
>
>I ran a few test cycles retracting the gear with the wheel slightly 
turned.
>Dragging on the side of  the door opening straightened it going in.  
Found
>no problem subsequently extending the gear.
>
>Has anyone experienced gear not going down because the wheel was 
turned? We
>know of at least one nose gear up landing where the guide was a 
contributing
>factor.
>
>BTW; for those of you who haven't been there yet; fitting the gear 
wells,
>fuel bulkheads and baffles can be a tedious, time-consuming and
>not-so-enjoyable job.  Suggest beggining the job with an attitude of
>patience and endurance.
>
>Al Gietzen   RGE
>
>
>


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