Gear extension failure / gear up landing

[IndyTim]

Not a thing I enjoy discussing, but should get the information out here.  

My wife and I were flying N252BH to KDFI - Defiance Ohio last Saturday.  It was an uneventful flight with good weather.  We stopped and refueled in Indiana (Kentland - $3.40/gal), and had a normal landing/takeoff there with no signs of any problems.  Then 40 mins in the air over to Defiance.  Downwind in the pattern at KDFI, I lowered the gear, only to see a "gear unsafe" light.  The hatches were showing in the floor indicator in addition to the annunciator on the panel.  There was plenty of drag, it actually felt like the gear might actually be down, and I wondered if it wasn't a faulty indication.  

I left the pattern, climbed to 2500, put it on autopilot, and flew in a big square while I tried to address the problem.  By memory, I knew what to do, but got the POH out anyway and went through the emergency gear extension procedure.  Looking at the gear motor fuse, it had already popped.  Gear lever was already in the down position, will get back to that.  I unlatched the cover over the emergency cable actuator / t-handle, and quickly discovered it had no travel at all.  Normally it takes something like 15 pulls of maybe 10-12" travel or so to get the gear down.  It's been a little while since I did that, so don't quote me.  But, net-net, there was no action available.  Which let me to wonder again if the gear wasn't already fully down - there was plenty of drag when I climbed to 2500.  I tried several iterations on pushing the breaker back in, moving the gear lever up (which did not retract the gear), moving the lever back down, tried the cable again.  Nothing got any results -- the gear remained in whatever position it was in.  In hindsight, the one thing I did NOT try was to push the fuse in, move the gear lever up, back down, while at the same time pulling the cable.  But as it turned out, I doubt it would have made any difference.

I was worried about overloading a circuit and causing a fire, which would have sucked.  I was also worried about trying too hard to force the gear down, possibly resulting in one down/one up, which would have compromised a safe landing.  Especially since I had mostly full tanks.  Not that I could think of anything else to try...

I also considered flying to a towered airport for a check on the gear, but discarded that since knowing the gear wasn't completely down wasn't going to help - I still had to land.  Besides my father-in-law was waiting at the airport to pick us up so we had transportation (and a surgeon!) if the worst happened.  

So we went ahead and landed.  I considered shutting down the engine and trying to get the prop just right, but discarded that idea also, for several reasons.  First, my engine ALWAYS stops with one of the three blades pointing straight down.  I also wasn't sure whether it would be windmilling anyway, and I wanted to focus on the landing, not the prop.  And I knew it would be tough to arrange just the right position, with a 3-bladed prop. With a 2-blader, perhaps I'd have had an option there.  Finally, I wanted to have power in case I needed to go around.  

I gave my wife something to do which was to crack the door on short final.  As we came out of ground effect I heard the scraping of the gear doors, and it was obvious that the gear was indeed not down.  We settled on the "mains", and then the nose dropped as the front gear gave way.  I could see concrete-dust spray as the prop made contact.  I focused on keeping the aircraft straight - for a while I had rudder yaw control.  It didn't take long to stop, and we were able to remain on the runway with just a little turn to the left at the very end of our, um, rollout.

As it turned out the airport was attended, and the FBO crew came out to pick us up.  I think they were more excited than I was - I was just sad.  They closed the airport for the night since it was nearly dusk.  The next morning they got her blocked up, and found that the gear was locked halfway down - they only way to get it fully extended was to disconnect the actuator rods.  Which they did, and got it safely towed into the hangar.

The FAA came up on Monday, and are calling it an "incident", not an "accident".  No NTSB.  Both FAA and FBO agree it was minimal damage, considering, most of it confined to the single-piece belly pan.  I ground the GPS antenna to a nub, and there are minimal scrapes right on the very edges of the cowl flap and gear doors.  Of course the prop is history.  And I get a tear down on my 150-hour engine.  :-(  :-(

I will post again when we find out what happened to the gear.

If there was something else I coulda / shoulda done, I'd like to hear it.  But wait a couple weeks, not sure I'm ready to hear it just yet.

[KSMooniac]

Well, frankly, that just sucks.  Sorry to read about this, especially after a recent engine overhaul.  It sounds to me like you did everything you could have done and I'm *very* curious to hear of the root cause when it is discovered.  Good job in continuing to fly the plane all the way until y'all were safe.  Let the insurance folks do their thing and you'll get to fly again soon enough.

[Oldguy]

Multiple feelings: glad you and the wife are fine but sad to hear about the plane. Sounds like it will fly again once it gets everything repaired.

Am also interested in hearing the final determination of the root cause of the incident.

Again, congratulations on making a bad situation come out as well as it could.

[Parker_Woodruff]

Tim,

Did you try retracting the gear after stowing the emergency extension latch?  The gear will not retract unless that is stowed.

It sounds like that may not have helped anyway if something got jammed...

[jetdriven]

Im also curious as to the root cause, perhaps broken no back clutch spring?

Sounds like excellent troubleshooting and airmanship until it comes to a stop. Then run.

Thats what insurance is for.

 

Edited February 10, 2016 by jetdriven

[FlyDave]

Wow Tim - MOST important is you and your wife are OK. Excellent job of keeping your cool and getting back on the ground without any pilot/passenger injuries!!

As Byron said, let the insurance company do what you hired and paid them for. You're probably in for a 3-5 month hiatus from flying but, just remember, things could have been worse if you didn't keep your cool.

[Piloto]

If the emergency extension latch is not well seated down it may jam the gear. Always try to re-seat the latch when this happens.

José

[Oscar Avalle]

Tim, it seems to me that you did what you had to do. Happy that the incident was not too bad. I am confident soon you will be flying again.

[amillet]

Tim, glad you and your wife are OK.

Alan & Brenda

(Tim was the other wingman in our Mooney Caravan 3 ship formation last year)

[LANCECASPER]

That's what insurance is for. Metal can be replaced.

[JT]

Nice job getting everyone home. The same happened to me in my 1976 J. It was blamed on the Dukes actuator which Mooney changed by the time they built your airplane. Don't think it's the same issue but it'll be interesting to see what happened.

[mooney2201]

have seen nose gear doors cause this problem...heim bearing lack of lubrication...will hang up just enough to pop breaker.in half down position....YOU MUST MAKE SURE THEY ARE LUBRICATED...thank the lord your ok....again that's all that matters.....PROBLEM BEING THE BEARINGS ARE IN THE DIRT AND SAND,DOESNT TAKE MUCH....

[Loogie]

Here are some additional thoughts: "G" the a/c up in some steep level turns to see if that would have helped.  Try pulling about 3 Gs symmetrically with a 70-75 deg bank level turn.  Also make sure the fire extinguisher is ready to go and a good review of how to use it.  You can always ask for a qualified chase a/c to look at you or you could have flown to that tower airport and do a slow pass close to the tower to get looked at.  Looks like you had enough gas to go back to your original plan.  Knowing what state your gear is in is important, it may or may not adjust your gameplan, but it is still nice to know.  Shutting her down in the flare would also have been another option, less trauma to the engine when it hits the prop.

Great job thinking through the problem.  My comments are just some of the things I've dealt with when encountered with gear problems in a different world.  Glad everyone is OK, and sorry about the engine.  Always impressed with clear thoughts under stress, again, nice job under pressure.  Good luck with repairs!

[carusoam]

Nicely done Tim.

Thanks for sharing your details.

Best 

regards,

-a-

[steingar]

That's what you get for landing in Defiance...

[GeorgePerry]

Thanks for sharing...Glad you and your spouse are safe.  

[IndyTim]

All, thanks for the feedback.  I appreciate it.  The 2nd worst part of something like this is the damage to the plane.  The worst part is wondering whether you could have/should have done something more, or done something different.

@Parker_Woodruff and @Piloto  -- I did note that the emergency extension latch was properly latched before I unlatched it, and I did close it for one cycle of up/down but neglected to close it on the 2nd attempt.  I'd like to think that it didn't matter, based on the difficult the maintenance crew had in getting the gear to move at all.  Hopefully a post mortem will help in identifying what actually failed, and whether there was anything I could have done that would have made a difference.

@Loogie I should have mentioned that I did not consider a high G maneuver.  My son and I discussed that after I landed - he's an AC-130W pilot stationed out at Cannon AFB.  Again, I'd sure like to think that it would not have mattered with the difficulty the crew had in getting the gear extended.  But this is one aspect that will sort of bug me probably for years to come.  It would not have been easy, given my wife's concern; unfortunately, while I viewed a gear up landing as relatively low-risk, she didn't (and doesn't) have the benefit of all the discussion on forums like this one.  She was seriously worried, and a G maneuver would not have helped.  But if I had thought of it at the time, and thought it might do any good, I would have tried it.  

 

[IndyTim]

3 hours ago, amillet said:

Tim, glad you and your wife are OK.

Alan & Brenda

(Tim was the other wingman in our Mooney Caravan 3 ship formation last year)

Thanks Alan - I was going to give you a call.  Hi to Brenda.  The salmon was excellent!

[IndyTim]

1 hour ago, Loogie said:

Here are some additional thoughts: "G" the a/c up in some steep level turns to see if that would have helped.  Try pulling about 3 Gs symmetrically with a 70-75 deg bank level turn.  Also make sure the fire extinguisher is ready to go and a good review of how to use it.  You can always ask for a qualified chase a/c to look at you or you could have flown to that tower airport and do a slow pass close to the tower to get looked at.  Looks like you had enough gas to go back to your original plan.  Knowing what state your gear is in is important, it may or may not adjust your gameplan, but it is still nice to know.  Shutting her down in the flare would also have been another option, less trauma to the engine when it hits the prop.

Great job thinking through the problem.  My comments are just some of the things I've dealt with when encountered with gear problems in a different world.  Glad everyone is OK, and sorry about the engine.  Always impressed with clear thoughts under stress, again, nice job under pressure.  Good luck with repairs!

Yeah, I wish I would have gone with shutting down in the flare.  I think that would have been doable, and I also think it would have helped.  As I mentioned, I didn't feel like I could get the 3-bladed prop positioned just right, but shutting down at the last second is something I wish I would have done differently.

[Hank]

32 minutes ago, IndyTim said:

Yeah, I wish I would have gone with shutting down in the flare.  I think that would have been doable, and I also think it would have helped.  As I mentioned, I didn't feel like I could get the 3-bladed prop positioned just right, but shutting down at the last second is something I wish I would have done differently.

Try not to worry about that too much. You had a problem, you tried to fix it, reviewed the POH in flight, did additional troubleshooting, then landed safely. What more could someone ask for? At least you didn't distract yourself trying to get the prop just right in the flare and prang it in hard. My 3-blade often stops with one near vertical upright, but I'm pretty sure the other two would scrub like that. New prop, check engine, a little belly work and you're good to go again.

but please, please let us know what they find about why/how the gear jammed halfway down. This is something that could happen to any of us.

[carqwik]

As others have said, the little "no back spring" is suspect...if one of the tongs breaks, nothing will move the gear...even the emergency extension becomes useless. 

What a bummer...but if the plane let you down, so be it...live to fly another day!

[M20S Driver]

Tim,

Thanks for sharing and educating us on what happened.  

I hope that, if I am in the same situation, I execute as well as you did and be able to walk away from the plane with my family.

Driver

[Two Oh One]

3 hours ago, IndyTim said:

 

@Loogie I should have mentioned that I did not consider a high G maneuver.  My son and I discussed that after I landed - he's an AC-130W pilot stationed out at Cannon AFB.  Again, I'd sure like to think that it would not have mattered with the difficulty the crew had in getting the gear extended.  But this is one aspect that will sort of bug me probably for years to come.  It would not have been easy, given my wife's concern; unfortunately, while I viewed a gear up landing as relatively low-risk, she didn't (and doesn't) have the benefit of all the discussion on forums like this one.  She was seriously worried, and a G maneuver would not have helped.  But if I had thought of it at the time, and thought it might do any good, I would have tried it.  

 

Tim,

Having just gone through almost this same scenario myself a year ago, I can assure you the high G wouldn't have done a thing for you. I tried it.  They had to disassemble my gear on the runway to get it to drop as well. They think maybe the up limit switch was weak and failed to shut off my actuator on retraction, thus seizing it up.  Popped my breaker too as the actuator fought itself.

Mooney gear is all tied together, so you wouldn't get a one up-one down, if I understand you correctly.

Oh, and I cut my power on final too.  It windmilled all the way in. You have to go REALLY slow to stop the prop, and I wanted enough energy for a smooth, flat no-flap landing.  Oh well.

Good work, it is what it is.

[Parker_Woodruff]

You did the right thing by not shutting down the engine.

thats one more abnormal thing to an already abnormal situation that can cause an attention diversion which can lead to much worse.  

[IndyTim]

Went to sleep thinking about this, woke up (early) thinking about this.  Mostly about whether the extension release latch had anything to do with it, and whether I should have gone through a couple more cycles of atch/up/down.  I still believe that the key data point was that the cable pull wasn't doing anything, not one millimeter of movement there. And I was in the air, reading in the POH the statement "Do not continue to pull the cable once resistance is felt or damage to the gear could result".  Or words to that effect.  I followed that advice.

 What I also woke up thinking about was something else I did NOT try, and now wish I would have. if for no other reason than to know I exhausted every last possibility:  the emergency RETRACTION procedure.  Perhaps that would have unlocked whatever was doing the locking.

To Loogie's earlier point, I also now wish I would have gotten some eyes on the belly to ascertain the gear state.  Knowing for certain that it was not down would have made me fight harder to fix it.

But then we have @Two Oh One's post above which sounds a lot like what I experienced, which was the sense that nothing was doing any good at all.

Thinking about the power-off-at-flare decision again, on second, or actually third thought, I don't think it would have been good.  Chopping the power, even if low power, right at that point would slightly destabilize the approach, and cause the plane to drop more abruptly onto the gear/doors.  I think more airframe damage could have occurred, and some slightly higher risk of a less controlled, um, slide-out.  I think the decision to cut engine needs to be implemented further up the glide slope, where you still have time to re-stabilize.  My sense during the slide-out was that one rapidly loses ability to control the attitude of the aircraft: you've got a little rudder and maybe some aileron for about 4 seconds, and then the physics of metal-sliding-on-tarmac take over.  At that point you're a passenger.  So having a controlled, level, straight entry into that phase takes precedence over engine - that's one of my early morning conclusions.  What do y'all think?