REFLECTOR:The continuing Gear Up Landing Saga

John Dibble reflector@tvbf.org
Mon, 29 Dec 2003 09:48:34 -0600


Scott,
I'm so sorry about the second incident.  Two comments.
1) My axle is slightly bent.  When I screw it in it turns freely for 1/2 
rotation and requires a screwdriver for the other 1/2.  I don't know if 
it is supposed to be this way, but I think this reduces the possibility 
of it unscrewing if the set screw comes loose.
2) When your axel was hung up on the gear guide, could the force of the 
hydraulic system have bent or weakened the strut?
I also would have sold mine cheap with the gaping hole where the doors 
go.  I had mine repaired at the factory.  They molded a new piece in 
their fuselage mold and it looks good as new, so now it's a keeper.

John

Scott wrote:

> After gluing on an aluminum plate on the bottom of the nose of my 
> airplane, where I had worn an amazingly flat area where the gear doors 
> used to be.
>
> Removed the main gear doors,  and test flew the plane. What a 
> performance reduction!  I'd guess a 20-25 knot speed reduction and a 
> loss of about 400 ft per minute climb rate.  It must be those big ol 
> holes in the bottom of the wings that the mains aren't filling up.
>
> Flew to North Las Vegas and stopped to see an ailing aunt and get in 
> some video poker time.  It was cold for Vegas, below freezing at 
> night, but it had warmed up into the 40's by departure time the next 
> day.  No problems landing or taking off at VGT.
>
> During the preflight at Vegas I found the reason why the gear had hung 
> up in the well at Carson City.  The axle was unscrewed and about 3 
> threads were showing on the left fork!  I can't believe I missed that 
> on previous preflights and when I was patching the hole in the nose so 
> I could fly home in Carson City!  It was the left guide bar that had a 
> gouge in it also.  I think I remember somebody else mentioning the 
> same thing happening to them!  I screwed it back in at Vegas.
>
> Got to Grants after a 2.6 hour flight.
>
> Wind was straight down the runway at 15 knots and gusty.  Nice landing 
> until The nose wheel touched down.  It was a gentle landing, one  I 
> would be happy to for anybody to see, but there was an odd vibration.  
> I lifted the nose wheel up, still had just enough speed to do that, 
> and then it settled on down as the elevator lost lift.   Big vibration 
> now! Kind of a wobbly feel and then the nose dropped about 6 inches 
> and a very loud scraping sound!  I radioed the terminal/FBO and said I 
> had a problem,  Wes was watching me land and he said I just lost my 
> nose wheel on the radio.   I saw him running out the door towards his 
> truck as we skidded on past the FBO.
>
> Down the runway we went, making a racket and vibrating from the 
> makeshift nose skid(fork casting).  The plane started to veer a bit to 
> the right so I touched the left brake, WHAM!!  down on the nose we 
> fell,  I had just seen this view in Carson City last week, I couldn't 
> believe I was once again landing sans nose gear.   We finally ground 
> to a halt. As I was unfastening my seat belt my wife said I'm right 
> behind you!
>
> Out we jumped into a biting cold wind, it was 28 degrees, 15 knots 
> gusting to 25.  The nose gear strut had folded back under the plane 
> ripping through the fuselage towards the rear  and what was left of 
> the fork was embedded in the bottom.
>
> At that moment somebody could have bought my airplane very cheap indeed.
>
> On the way to hauling it into the hanger I saw the nose wheel and went 
> and picked it up. The side with the threads for the axle had a piece 
> of the fork still on it.
>
> So what happened and was it related to the gear up in Carson last 
> week.  I think so.
>
> I can only surmise the axle bolt was loose for awhile.  The only thing 
> that holds the non-threaded side of the fork to the axle is a set 
> screw which must have been loose.  If its loose any side load on the 
> axle from taxing or cross wind landing would thus be born by the 
> threaded side of the fork.  I think it was overstressed, though I saw 
> no cracks in it when I tightened up the axle bolt in Vegas.  Maybe the 
> cold effected it somewhat(it was -4c on the way back)?   So I think 
> the loose bolt which caused the gear to hang up also caused the fork 
> to be weakened over time.  My plane was involved in a runway overrun 
> accident prior to my ownership and maybe the fork was compromised then 
> also?
>
> Anyway, I had thought I could repair the gear up damage in 30 to 40 
> hours work, now?,  I don't know how much damage was done inside the 
> keel to the gear mechanism yet.  It being winter without a heated 
> hanger will certainly put a damper on repairs also.
>
> Scott
>
> Getting my wife into this airplane again after two accidents might not 
> be possible.  We'll see.
>
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