Johnson bar fails and gear collapses in my Mooney 78934 at landing in KLZU

[kommers]

Airport is closed since 9 am, Mooney is stiil on the runway. My wife was flying it with her CFI

[eman1200]

everyone alright?

[Shadrach]

   I hope every one is OK.   It's likely that either the bar was not seated in the socket or the preload was out of spec.

[kommers]

They checked JB position 4 times before landing and yet.... J-hook didn't hold, apparently. No damage to people, just a shock. They just removed the plane and taxied it to tiedown. Amazingly,recovery crew was able to extend the gear and roll the airlplane off the runway

[Mooneymite]

Sorry to hear about this.

:-(

[aviatoreb]

I'm sorry to hear it.  Same thing happened about 5 years ago at our airport to a M20C.  The jbar just came out of its locked position upon landing.  That airplane was repaired nicely and flew again.

[Shadrach]

Amazingly,recovery crew was able to extend the gear and roll the airlplane off the runway

 

This is actually not uncommon at all given that nothing is really broken.  With regard to the socket, it is either very, very worn or it was never really locked.   Failure of the secondary latch is extremely unlikely as it is not a stressed part of the gear.  I'm really sorry this happened to you.  It may not feel like it, but in the whole scheme of things to go wrong, this is blessing.  Everyone is ok and the plane will fly again!!

[PTK]

Everyone is ok and that's all that matters.

The plane will be fine.

[kommers]

I doubt it since we had a prop strike which is likely to require engine overhaul. Insurance company told me that the repairs will most likely cost more than the plane is worth so it is going to be written off. Hence the question: do you guys know that if the insurance pays me the entire amount the plane was insured for,  they become the owners of the plane or not and if they sell plane for parts or leave what's remaining of the plane to me?

[laytonl]

They "buy" the airplane from you for the insured value and then sell it for scrap. You can negotiate with them to buy it though. Lee

[DonMuncy]

If they "total" it, they pay you the agreed value and the salvage is theirs.

[kommers]

thank you for the answers. A couple of years ago I installed a new nav/com from Garmin which ran me 3 AMU. This was after I got my current insurance policy for Mooney. Do you think it would be a good or bad  idea to remove it before insurance adjuster arrives?

[DXB]

This gentleman on the Mooney facebook group just went through getting his J-bar M20C totalled after a gear up and I think may have ultimately kept his plane-

 

https://www.facebook.com/brandon.beavers.165

 

Maybe he could be of guidance.

[ArtVandelay]

thank you for the answers. A couple of years ago I installed a new nav/com from Garmin which ran me 3 AMU. This was after I got my current insurance policy for Mooney. Do you think it would be a good or bad  idea to remove it before insurance adjuster arrives?

I assume the rack will have a big hole in it where the radio once was, the adjuster works for the insurance company, if I was the adjuster i would be asking you some tough questions.  Not to mention the logs, paperwork will list what equipment has been installed in the plane.  I wonder how much jail time insurance fraud gets your these days?

[aviatoreb]

I doubt it since we had a prop strike which is likely to require engine overhaul. Insurance company told me that the repairs will most likely cost more than the plane is worth so it is going to be written off. Hence the question: do you guys know that if the insurance pays me the entire amount the plane was insured for,  they become the owners of the plane or not and if they sell plane for parts or leave what's remaining of the plane to me?

 

Actually - that is what happened with my friend whose M20C gear collapsed that I mentioned.  It was "totalled" by the insurance company, meaning they just wrote him a check for the insured amount - and then they owned the plane.  Then they sold it in some market for such planes to be either parted out, or what not - and someone else bought it and repaired it as a project, and it flies today several years later.

[kommers]

Yep, I thought the same way. Well, I guess I have to bite the bullet and lose my new radio... the bad thing about the whole situation is that my mechanic just replaced JB socket a month ago because he found old one elongated. He just followed AD and installed that new fancy socket with J-hook. The reason for gear collapse seems to be in preload. I noticed that JB was lighter and lighter to operate with every flight but I thought it is   because JB was brand new and it was going through break-in. In reality, it was probably just worn-out bearings that my mechanic was going to replace in August during the annual, I just didn't survive to that point...

[Guest]

While very sad, it shouldn't cause the plane to be wrtten off.

Clarence

[DrBill]

You should have increased the value with the new radio if it did indeed increase the value of the plane.. I did just that with my bladders and now ads-b.

If it gets totaled, I get a fair price for it.  Had to provide receipts but that was the easy part.

 

Thanks for posting.. I'll continue to be vigilant on checking the bar.

Bill

[Shadrach]

Yep, I thought the same way. Well, I guess I have to bite the bullet and lose my new radio... the bad thing about the whole situation is that my mechanic just replaced JB socket a month ago because he found old one elongated. He just followed AD and installed that new fancy socket with J-hook. The reason for gear collapse seems to be in preload. I noticed that JB was lighter and lighter to operate with every flight but I thought it is   because JB was brand new and it was going through break-in. In reality, it was probably just worn-out bearings that my mechanic was going to replace in August during the annual, I just didn't survive to that point...

 

 

Did the J bar remain locked in the down position during the gear collapse?

[kommers]

according to my wife, it was in the middle position when she exited the plane. It was in gear down when collapse started to develop

[Marauder]

The pre-load setting has caught a few planes. Sorry to hear about this.

As for insurance, I have $90,000 on my F primarily because of the new avionics I have installed in it. If it is repairable, I want it repaired, if not I want to make sure I don't lose the value o put in it.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Guest]

The pre-load setting has caught a few planes. Sorry to hear about this.

As for insurance, I have $90,000 on my F primarily because of the new avionics I have installed in it. If it is repairable, I want it repaired, if not I want to make sure I don't lose the value o put in it.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Under insuring is a false economy. Insurance companies seldom lose.

Clarence

[dcrogers11]

Regarding new avionics, I was told by the agent that ANYTHING permanently mounted is always the insurance company's if the plane is totaled.  They let me insure my 64C for $80,000 (maximum allowed by them for my model) for what I spent on it last year and my premium actually stayed the same due to hours in type and ratings changes. 

Don

[HRM]

It is important that we have the why on this accident.

 

At annual last year I had the (down) lock bracket replaced with the LASAR part. I frankly cannot imagine how the J-bar would come out after being seated and after applying the Maxwellian Tug to it.

[bonal]

There is an acceptable range for gear pre loading I cant remember the load range if your gear tests within this range is it better to have a higher loading or a lower loading when tested.  How is this adjusted?