jasona900

I didn't notice much (if any) difference during retraction. And looking at the springs, they were not completely compressed. I'll take a picture of them and post it next time I'm at the airport, but I'm not sure they had anything to do with it.

After a fuel stop, I taxied my '64 C (manual gear) onto the active after my run-up. I was going maybe 3-4mph, and all of a sudden, the nose gear collapsed, followed by both mains about a second later. After the initial shock of what had just happened, I quickly hit the master switch off, shut off the fuel, and exited the aircraft. The J-bar never moved out of the block. Fortunately, there was an A&P on the field, along with a group of other very nice folks who helped me put the plane on jacks, and then onto a flatbed trailer. 3 hours after the collapse, we towed my Mooney into a hangar. We just recently got it back on jacks and off the trailer, and the inspection of what happened started. Backstory: My Mooney (most of you probably recognize it as N6XM, a fantastic example of a C model) underwent an Annual at a MSC in October. Since the annual, I have put roughly 10 hours, and only a handful of landings on it. This MSC (I'll keep their name out of it) treated me very well, and conducted a very detailed annual. Because 6XM was so well maintained before, they really didn't find much wrong with it. Among other things, they shimmed the nose gear steering assembly, and adjusted the preloads on all three landing gear. Before they adjusted any preloads, they said one of the mains required sufficient torque to break the overcenter joint, but the other main and nose were low. So they adjusted the retraction trusses accordingly and brought the other main to within spec, and the nose to about 125 in/lbs After the collapse, I called the MSC who offered to fly out and preform an inspection to determine what went wrong. One of the retraction trusses broke when the gear collapsed. I will include pictures later, but it broke in two places. Looking inside the truss that broke, there doesn't appear to be very much corrosion. Once side is clean and shiny, the other has just a few specs of brown in it. The walls of that tube may appear to be slightly thinner but it is hard to tell. The other truss bent during the collapse. The weld that connects the vertical portion of the J-bar to the block on the bottom tore like a piece of paper. An additional weld separated (not completely) on point that the J-bar attaches to the retraction truss that did not break. Unfortunately, this makes it impossible to do a preload check on the nose gear. The overcenter joint doesn't appear to have any play in it. So we don't know exactly what happened. The best that we could come up with is that the truss walls were thin due to aging. When they adjusted the truss, (even if it was to spec), that an enough stress on that tube to cause it to fail. Once that tube went, the overcenter joint could have broke center, and the nose gear went down. That pulled on the other retraction truss, which pulled on the J-bar causing it to tear, and allow the mains to come down. I have read that the aluminum block the top of J-bar seats in can wear, causing it to lock in place, but not as far forward as it is meant to be. This can limit the travel of the overcenter joint, and cause the gear to collapse. I need to inspect the block, and will post the results. For those of you who haven't read it, this is a MUST READ if you have a J-bar in your Mooney: http://www.knr-inc.com/shoptalk-articles/25-shoptalk/41-200305-manual-gear-mooneys So now I am waiting on a quote to see how much this will cost. Fortunately, the insurance company is willing to work with me. I know I can't find another Mooney this nice (at least not right now) for what I got 6XM. Pretty upset, as I have put a decent amount of money into 6XM since I've had it...but such is life. At least it happened with just me on board, I didn't get hurt, and it was only a 25 min drive from home. But if anyone has any other ideas on what happened, (or advice on a way forward) I'm all ears!

Call Jim at Cannon located at Arlington. Did a fantastic job on my Luscombe (Garmin comm and PS engineering intercom) and another great job on my Swift (Aspen 1000). Fair price, and done on time. It's worth the drive from Seattle!

I use to hangar my Swift at HEG when I was stationed in Jacksonville. I really enjoyed that airport. Very friendly people with a nice hometown feel. Nice FBO with equally friendly employees. Only downside for me when I was there was the lack of maintenance on the field. Not sure if that is still the case today. But you're right about those hangars. Probably the nicest I've had. Good to hear the fuel prices have gone down. I use to top off at Keystone because it was cheap enough to justify the trip. Don't sweat the airspace. Like other controllers in the country, the folks at NAS Jacksonville, Cecil, and Jax International are quick to respond to your calls should you need to transit their airspace. Whitehouse can get busy when there is a squadron getting their bounces in before they go to the boat. But when they aren't in town, there will be nothing going on there. Lastly, you MUST try the Treemendous BBQ (that's the name) restaurant just down the street from HEG. Fantastic BBQ!

I am dropping the Mooney off for its annual next Saturday (10/15) to the folks at Byerly in Peoria Illinois (KPIA). Any chance someone would have a open seat and could give me a ride back to Omaha (KOMA)?

Yep. I smile every time I fly it... 6XM really was turn key. The airplane I had prior to my Mooney was a swift. Got an OK deal on it, and what a nightmare it was after. Put a ton of money into it, and still didn't get get back my original investment (not even close) when I sold it. A wise man recently told me once that you pay 30 cents on the dollar for upgrades or future maintenance when you buy an airplane. While I'm not sure the number is accurate, I think the concept sure is.

I've never used a 750, but on my 530, hitting the CLR button multiple times will either populate (or un-populate) the screen with airspace, rivers, roads at different levels... maybe something similar on your 750?

Use to always be north up..but then started using track up and I prefer that much more.

I dig the paint job! (I'm a little biased though)

I did my JO tour at VP-40 from 2006-2009 and just finished my DH tour at VP-46 this summer.

S-3's... nice! Former Mauler NFO here (2004-2007) and then went P-3s.

And really a joy to fly too. Very well balanced, yet quite nimble.

My old Swift... best looking bird I've owned. But it's got nothin on my Mooney!

Yep.. looks like some sort of warning horn.

Way to go Paul! Congrats! Great looking airplane.

Taildraggers really are fun. Here is mine, and it's for sale! It won't get near enough attention now that I have a Mooney in the hangar next door. PM me for anyone who is interested..

He sure has, and I look forward to joining the Caravan next year.

I'll see you there next year?

Yep.. an amazing machine for sure. Hope you find the right one for you soon.

I couldn't be more excited to call myself the proud owner of N6XM, and be a member of the Mooney community!! I flew M20Js in college, and was hooked ever since. I have been watching this site for a long time, and it was this forum that connected me to my new Mooney. Paul, you were fantastic to work (and fly) with, and someone I would be honored to call a friend. Looking forward to making many more friends here, and creating many memories in 6XM!!

The bottom looks good since the "N" matches the angle of the tail.. but I think it really depends on what the rest of the paint job will look like.

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