REFLECTOR: Accident/Incident

[Scott Derrick]

davedent at comcast.net wrote:
> First related to the gear system, I think the quality of the parts is 
> so different you can't count on them fitting the same as the part you 
> removed.  So doing makes it a major task and usually a major 
> modification to the structure.  Once I get through
I disagree.  I replaced my main gear legs and the blanks ready for 
torsional wraps fit perfectly.  I replaced the nose gear strut and fork 
and they fit perfectly.  The failure of these parts was because of pilot 
error.

I bought my plane  after a wreck.  The  owner/builder  ran it off the 
end of a short runway.   Breaking the nose gear and one of the mains.  
The story by all observers was he tried twice but was to high and hot 
and went around.  Third time was still to high  and hot but tried to 
force in on, bad decision.

It was poorly repaired, the main legs should have been replaced instead 
of repaiered,  the nose gear bushings were loosened and not refit, nose 
gear guides broken and incorrectly reinstalled.  I found these things 
out later.

What followed was two gear events that was completely the fault of 
inadequate repairs and a poor preflight on my part.. The mains failed 
eventually of internal cracking,  the nose gear got stuck up because of 
not doing a KPC and the badly installed nose gear guides.

The replacement parts were fine.

Scott

-- 

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    Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the limits of the law," because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

    Thomas Jefferson