REFLECTOR: Paul Calhoun's nose gear incident

[Phil Hooper]

I just talked to Paul.  He's pretty discouraged.  He had put his wooden
Catto back on and was flying from Modesto, California to Coeur D'Alene Idaho
with a stop in Carson City.  He had a pretty strong cross wind at wheels up
leaving Carson City and theorized that that the wheel was at an angle when
retracted.  It wedged somehow between the nose gear guides/lip of the
opening.   He tried all the usual stuff to get it down without success.
When the fire department lifted the nose, he could see the tire was wedged
in there, pressed on the edges.  He reached in and with a twist (not much
force) it turned, unwedged and dropped readily.  His tension on the nut, for
anti-shim, was 19 pounds and was checked a few days earlier.  He also
believes that the gas spring could have been a factor and was due for
replacement, a mother bear job.  I've heard they are only good for a few
years ???  

 

Paul plans to try to simulate what happened, take photos and advise.  The
picture in my mind is pressed rubber, tight against edges, like a bad
parking job against the curb.

 

I'm about to build the nose gear guides and wonder if beveling them
(concave, eliminating the edges) would still help get the gear up into
position, but provide some strain relief if it tried to go in wedged,
letting it free up more easily on dropping the gear.    Paul feels that
Mack's warning, mentioned in an earlier post, probably was not a factor.

 

I've not followed any discussions, but if the anti-shimmy cylinders are
effective (I saw one or two at the symposium), does that eliminate the need
for tightening the nut so much that the tire might get wedged.

 

Comments welcome to all of the above.especially from Sage Baker. 

 

Phil Hooper

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