ZamF16

Bolts, bushings, and other associated hardware were pretty easy to get, and LASAR was awesome to work with. However, it took almost 8 months to get the trim tube, gear linkages, and the bell cranks manufactured. COVID certainly impacted their responsiveness, but 8 months was pretty ridiculous. I will tell you that parts they had in stock I received in 1 day. It just took a while to get parts manufactured.

We had to overhaul the gear actuator, replace every linkage and bell crank from the actuator to the left main. We also had to replace the front trim tube as the bent gear rod pushed a bolt/cotter pin against the trim tube. When I ran the trim during the 45 minutes of troubleshooting the bolt and cotter pin almost completely cut through the trim tube like a pipe cutter.. We also had to replace the inner gear door and the gear dust cover. The insurance company was pretty responsive. The only thing they balked at was replacing the gear actuator and the main bell crank up near the gear actuator. We felt given the stress put on the actuator, we should plan to replace it. The insurance company asked that we first attempt to overhaul it, which we did. It was a matter of $27k for a new one and $2.5k for the overhaul. It was a fair request. It was hard to determine if the main bell crank was bent, but my A&P insisted we replace that, since everything that was attached to it was completely bent. Once we disassembled it, it became obvious it was in fact bent. About a week after the incident, I worked a ferry permit, had the A&P secure the gear in the extended position and remove the inner gear door from the actuator, and then I ferried it back to Castroville, where we completed the repairs in my hangar.

Thanks for spinning the tire picture. Every time I would attach it, it would rotate. Zam

I have delayed posting this information while I settled everything with the FAA and my insurance. But as I am about to get my Bravo back in the air, I thought it was time to relay what occurred back on 14 May 2021, in hopes that everyone can learn something from what happened to me. BLUF: A bird strike caused a gear malfunction that forced me to attempt a landing in a misconfigured airplane. So, there I was... The flight started at Castroville Municipal (west of San Antonio) where I hangar my Mooney. I conducted a normal preflight noting no issues with the gear or any other aircraft system. I taxied uneventfully to the self-serve fuel and added 40 gallons of fuel to the 35 gallons already in the tanks. While I was only planning about an hour flight, the extra fuel came in handy on this day. I then taxied to Rwy 16, did a normal runup and departed Runway 16 VFR to the northwest on a beautiful spring day in Texas. I flew to Hondo, where I conducted a couple practice approaches. I then flew back to Castroville VFR and entered the pattern for practice pattern work. I did one uneventful low approach to Runway 16. However, on the go when I raised the gear, I heard a thump and was aware that the gear movement seamed louder than normal. I normally don't hear much noise from the gear with my noise cancelling headset on, but this time I did. On downwind for my second pattern at Castroville, I lowered the gear. Again, I noticed that the gear movement was making more noise than usual. At the end of the gear movement, I noticed that the gear unsafe light remained on and the gear actuator circuit breaker had popped. At this point I notified an aircraft that had just landed at Castroville that I had an unsafe gear indication and asked if he could look at the gear as a flew by. Additionally, I had a Ag-Tractor who was flying in the area, join to a chase position and look over the gear. Both pilots reported that the right main and nose gear appeared down, but the left gear was barely out of the gear well and jammed against the inner gear door. At this point I departed the pattern to the south to attempt to troubleshoot the gear. So I went to the section in the PoH for nose gear and one main down and one main up. I am be facetious; there is nothing in the PoH for misconfigured gear. The way the Bravo is mechanized, with a gear box driving push rods to move the gear, they should all be down or up. But here I was in a misconfigured Mooney. I figured I would try the manual extension per the PoH for FAILURE OF LANDING GEAR TO EXTEND ELECTRICALLY. The gear handle was already down and the circuit breaker already popped, so I attempted to lower the gear by pulling the manual gear T handle. I had little hope this would do anything, since the gear was already in the down position, but I figured it was worth a try. As suspected, the T handle would not budge, as the gear was already in the extended position. At this point I attempted to break the left gear loose by g-ing up the airplane (positive and negative), and yawing the airplane, but nothing helped. I thought I would rather land gear up in the grass than land with one main up on the runway, so I attempted to raise the gear by putting the gear handle up and pushing the gear actuator circuit breaker in. However, the circuit breaker would not reset and the gear would not move. While I was doing all this, the pilots who were assisting me from the ground called the Castroville Fire Department and EMS to respond. While I awaited their response, I assessed my options. I decided to land in the grass, since the recent rain had softened the ground a bit, and I felt like this would lessen the chance of a ground loop if I could slowly settle the left wing in the grass. At this point I also decided to transition over to Kelly Field where I would have an Air Force crash response team to help if things went badly. I contacted San Antonio Approach, declared an emergency and proceeded to Kelly Field. Once in the pattern at Kelly Field, I did a couple of low approaches to survey the area and to select an appropriate spot to land. I communicated with the crash response team via the Tower about where I was going to land and then set up for a right base turn to land abeam Rwy 16 in the grass on the east side of the runway. On final I selected full flaps. Then as I approached landing, I pulled the fuel mixture to full lean, turned the fuel selector to off, and popped the latch on the door. I flew the aircraft just above the grass until the stall warning horn came on then eased it down while attempting to keep the left wing from settling. As I was losing aileron control authority, I started to ease the left wing down into the grass. It was at this point that I realized the wing stop settling and the left gear must have extended. The Fire Chief later told me that the left main extend about a second or two before it touched down in the grass. I can only assume that the bouncing through the grass broke the gear free. Once stopped, I turned off the main power, ensured the fuel selector was off, then deplaned. The Crash Response Team and the Airfield Manager met me at the airplane and also notified the FAA of the incident. Within minutes I was getting called by the FSDO about the incident. The FSDO requested pictures of the damage and a verbal account. He also worked with me, the Airfield Manager, and the Crash Response Team to provide clearance to tow the airplane to Atlantic Aviation's ramp. So what happened? During inspection of the left main gear, we found small feather fragments up in the gear well. We determined that during my first pattern at Castroville, a bird impacted the left inner gear door as it was opening/open to allow the main gear to extend/retract. The impact ripped the inner gear door off its hinge and left it hanging by the actuator and turned sideways. When I retracted the gear following the low approach, the inner gear door jammed into the left main gear hub cap (dust cover per the parts catalog), which caused the gear to jam about 20 degrees out of the gear well. When I tried to extend the gear the last time, the gear actuator did its best to force the gear down. In doing so it stretched and bent every component between the actuator and the left main gear. It is amazing to me that despite the mangled gear mechanism, the gear still managed to get into the down position once it broke loose. The lesson to me is reinforcement of what I learned in my F-16 days. You need to understand how your aircraft systems work if you want to be prepared for the unexpected. Not everything that can go wrong is in the PoH. And the Mooney PoH does a poor job of explaining how all the aircraft systems work. I have learned my systems by owner assisted annuals/maintenance. And don't forget to use external resources. I used other aircraft in the area to help me assess the situation. I also used them to contact emergency services. Once I decided to transition to Kelly Field, I used San Antonio Approach, Kelly Tower, Kelly Emergency Response Team, and finally the Airfield Manager to help me safely get my Bravo on the ground and to the ramp. After 8 months of delays getting gear parts for a 33-year-old airplane manufactured, my Bravo should be back in the air next week. I hope this incident provides one more nugget in your clue bag. Dave

Don, did you ever get the UMA transducer installed and working? Dave

Also interested, if you have not sold it.

Jim, thanks for the detailed post. Your info is very helpful. Dave

Rick, no I haven't resolved the issue yet. Pretty much my fuel pressure is now just pegged at max from engine start to shutdown. Every now and then (one to two seconds in a flight) it will return to normal then jump back up. Based on all the advice, I am going to try cleaning connections and checking the vent holes. I am not going to jump to replace the transducer quite yet. Dave

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure they used pain stripper in the wheel wells, because the interior of the wells and the gear were completely repainted. I will reach back out to Aerosmith and verify.

No, I haven't tried Lasar. Thanks for the advice on the cast offs. Dave

Just wanted to pass along an issue that cropped up due to the repaint of our '89 TLS Bravo. We had Aerosmith Aviation do a strip and repaint as well as a complete overhaul of our interior 2 years ago. We have been very pleased with the quality of both. However, it appears that they did not adequately remove all of the paint stripper from the small spaces like the gear wells. Like many other Bravo owners, we have the vacuum powered speed brakes. The conduits for the actuator cables run from the vacuum driven actuator in the belly through the main gear wells where the cables continue into the wings and connect to the speed brakes. Our conduits completely disintegrated over the last couple of years, likely due to the paint stripper. This left the metal conduit lining splayed out in the gear well. Luckily, Precise Flight still sells these cable/conduit kits for the vacuum driven speed brakes. However, it was a couple days of work to get the old cables removed and the new cables and conduit installed. It was slow progress, because of the tight quarters in the belly bulkhead where the actuator mounts. This included removing the back seats and the floor pan to gain better access to the actuator and pulley system from above I am not sure what I would have done, hind sight, other then tell Aerosmith to make sure they clean all the paint stripper off components. I am pretty sure they would have said, "well of course, we know what we are doing." I just want others to be aware of the collateral damage that can be done when having caustic chemicals sprayed all over your airplane. And to make sure you do periodic inspections of your aircraft particularly after repaints or other major maintenance. I know...common sense, but hopefully this is one more thing people can put in their clue bag. Dave

Fellow Bravo owners, My fuel pressure sensor has been gradually failing over the last year. The fuel pressure indication would periodically peg at max pressure and then sometimes go to zero (that will get your attention) before returning to normal. I looked in the Mooney Illustrated Parts Catalog and found these two options: Druck PDCR821-0062-100 and (alt) Kulite APT153-100-30 Unfortunately, I cannot find a source for either one. Has anyone had this issue; more importantly has anyone found a source or an alternative? Dave

My 1989 M20M compass just started leaking. It is now about half full of fluid. I purchased the Airpath overhaul kit from Aircraft Spruce, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to remove the compass from the glareshield. It turns in its mount, but I cannot figure out what is holding it in place. My A&P thinks there is a screw in the back holding it in place, but the frame running behind the compass is in the way to get to the back of the compass. My A&P cannot get to my plane for another couple weeks, so I am trying to get it removed and overhauled, so he can inspect it/sign it off, when he gets the time. Can anyone offer any advice?

I am about to take my Mooney into Aerosmith for paint and interior. They said they cannot paint the bottom antennas which are currently white (transitioning belly to metallic blue). It appears your belly antennas are painted. If so, how did you manage painting them? Dave

Porter Strait did a fantastic job overhauling the KG-102. In addition to completely overhauling and repainting the whole gyro, they added a shock indicator to the outside of it and the packaging in which they sent it. The optics were out of calibration and the bearings showed significant wear, which they attributed to excessive vibration. I am not sure where the vibration is coming from. None is apparent in the cockpit, although it might feel completely different in the tail of the airplane. It is reinstalled and working great. Hopefully this one will last longer than 4 years and 400 hours.

It would have been about $300 if I could have gotten by with a recalibration, but the worn bearings will start to cause problems soon. The cost for the overhaul is $1595.

Sent the KG-102 gyro to Porter Strait in Tulsa. The main culprit of my problem was the optics out of calibration. However, they found a lot wear on the gyro bearings, so it ended up needing a complete overhaul. It lasted 4 years and about 400 hours. I considered transitioning to a solid state option, but for the cost I am going forward with overhaul of my mechanical gyro. I will consider an upgrade next time the gyro goes out.

Called Porter Strait this afternoon based on your previous post. I am pulling the gyro and getting it in the mail to them.

OK, so here we go again. After replacing the KG-102 in 2012, with an overhauled gyro, I now have a problem with the HSI not staying slaved. It slaves to the correct heading at power-up , but then after a little maneuvering the heading wanders off. If I deselect slave and reselect it, the heading corrects itself, but then wanders off again as soon as I start maneuvering. Does this sound like the gyro again?

Copy, on the max MP. I will leave it alone. I just was so used to seeing it at 36" on the previous waste gate controllers that 35" got my attention.

I have about 8 hours on the new waste gate controllers. My throttle response is smoother than ever before. In fact I am realizing how bad I had it for years. I have always had a jump in thrust at about 25" MP as the turbo would all of a sudden spin up. Now I get smooth throttle response all the way up. However, I do notice that my max MP is now about 35", instead of the 36-37 I had before. I will have that adjusted.

Inspected the turbo. Luckily it is in pristine shape. We are reinstalling the wastegate and controllers early next week. I will know soon if that solves the problem.

To your other questions, the engine has 1918 total time with the turbo overhauled about 150 hours ago. The wastegate and controllers are original equipment as far as I can tell from the records.

No precursors. It was a complete surprise. When I lost the manifold pressure, I was in the area over west TX where airfields are sparse. As I lost thrust, I sucked the seat cushion right up my...well you get the picture. While the shop says both controllers need to be overhauled, I really don't understand exactly what was happening. I got the two controllers and the wastegate back today. The overhaul of all 3 cost just over $3k. I am hopeful that this resolves the problem. I'll post updates as I learn more. Dave

On a recent trip from Denver to San Antonio at 17k' with the engine set at cruise (29/2400), my MP suddenly dropped to 24 and the fuel flow had a corresponding drop. I immediately increased the throttle to bring the MP back up to cruise (it took close to full throttle). It seemed as if the turbo was no longer providing boost. While I verified the engine was otherwise running correctly and identifying my nearest divert, I felt the turbo kick back in and the engine came back to full power. This cycling continued every 10 minutes or so for the remaining hour of flight. We pulled the wastegate and the controllers and took them into the local shop for troubleshooting. The controllers appear to be the culprit. One is leaking oil, and the poppets are sticking on both--need overhauling. The overhaul is being done the week. I will let everyone know the outcome. Dave