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Showing results for tags 'manual gear extension'.
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While my bird is still down for annual, I went in to get some video of the gear swing and to practice the manual gear extension. I don't practice it in the air but I try to do one every year while it is up on jacks. Here's a video with the whole process and detailed shots of electric and manual extension from different angles at the end. I did screw something up some things and learned some. A more minor one was letting go of the gear override button before the gear was fully retracted. So I realized it's a "hold" button and not a "push" button. I think I knew this already but I wasn't sure so there was a moment I let it go and the gear stopped retracting and that confirmed to me that I'm not holding it for no reason the whole time. Ran into a few issues during the manual gear extension. Certainly I followed the checklist and all but there was something the checklist would not help with. First one was just yanking the cord too hard. I remember from last time that it takes a bit of effort but my mechanic made a memorable comment to me, "you're not trying to start a lawn mower!" The bigger issue was how I did not go far enough to lock the gear down on the first try. I was staring at the mechanical indicator and kept going until the green lines lined up. I was using the indicator for cues for how much more to go but I also ignored the annunciator panel figuring one of the reasons for a manual gear extension is an electrical failure so this is how I would be doing it. When I thought I was done, the mechanic pointed to the annuciator and said it's not locked yet! Sure enough, the "Gear Down" light was not yet lit. One more pull and it was. I learned a valuable lesson. Look for the light, feel for the click. Duh! I feel for the click every time I do a normal gear extension but for some reason I felt like manually moving it will be more subtle and smooth. No, the click is still there at the end. So even if the light doesn't illuminate and the indicator tells you you're down, feel for the click before assuming it's down and locked.