Gear collapse at Oshkosh

[FloridaMan]

A friend of mine just sent me a pic of a Mooney that had a gear collapse at Oshkosh. He said he watched it happen and said he watched a smooth landing, that all three wheels came up on roll-out and that the gear was definitely down when he touched down. From the tail number, the registration says it's an M20R. 

Edited July 24, 2016 by Antares

[Hank]

Ooohhh . . . Hadn't heard about this one, just a C206 with collapsed nose wheel yesterday. 

[Bob]

3 hours ago, Antares said:

A friend of mine just sent me a pic of a Mooney that had a gear collapse at Oshkosh. He said he watched it happen and said he watched a smooth landing, that all three wheels came up on roll-out and that the gear was definitely down when he touched down. From the tail number, the registration says it's an M20R. 

Yes, that is how it happened.  We were on the edge of 27.  Sad to watch!  Right gear collapsed after proper, nice soft, landing.  It started sliding right fast and the pilot did a fantastic job correcting and keeping it straight.  Great job Mr. Pilot!

[Jim Peace]

9 hours ago, Antares said:

A friend of mine just sent me a pic of a Mooney 

do you care to share the picture?

[FloridaMan]

Attached. At least there are plenty of witnesses that aren't blaming the pilot for a gear up. 

[MB65E]

Of all the places.. That really sucks! Glad it looks like nothing marred but the belly and a bunch of ego. 

-Matt

 

[Jerry 5TJ]

6 hours ago, MB65E said:

Of all the places.. That really sucks! Glad it looks like nothing marred but the belly and a bunch of ego. 

Well, there's the engine and prop too

[donkaye]

Very unusual.  Might he have put the gear up instead of the flaps on landing?

[Yooper Rocketman]

Just now, donkaye said:

Very unusual.  Might he have put the gear up instead of the flaps on landing?

I wondered the same thing.  I had my best friend do that to a Bonanza on landing after a long multi-leg flight and tired (distracted).  Oshkosh could do the same thing to you.  For the gear to come up on all three with weight on them it looks suspicious.

Tom

[aviatoreb]

What a bummer - knock on wood - if I ever were to gear up I would want it to happen in the privacy and quiet where no one would see it.  This poor guy had it happen in front of the whole world.  At least it is not something worse.

[mike_elliott]

8 minutes ago, donkaye said:

Very unusual.  Might he have put the gear up instead of the flaps on landing?

That would imply he either landed very very fast to disable the airspeed switch, or had a broken airspeed switch or pushed the override button, in addition to not realizing his hand was on the gear lever vs the flap switch. I know this happened to "slim" a few years ago in his Encore, but it takes a series of "wrong things" to make it happen.

[Marauder]

8 minutes ago, donkaye said: Very unusual.  Might he have put the gear up instead of the flaps on landing?

That would imply he either landed very very fast to disable the airspeed switch, or had a broken airspeed switch or pushed the override button, in addition to not realizing his hand was on the gear lever vs the flap switch. I know this happened to "slim" a few years ago in his Encore, but it takes a series of "wrong things" to make it happen.

Where is the flap switch relative to the gear switch on the Ovation? Mine is on the quadrant away from the gear switch.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mike_elliott]

15 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Where is the flap switch relative to the gear switch on the Ovation? Mine is on the quadrant away from the gear switch.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The flap switch is located under where your quadrant is, Chris. Depending on the year of the Ovation, the gear switch could either be behind the yoke or up high on the instrument panel. IWO, it isn't close to the flap switch at all, but that doesn't prevent one from *thinking* they are raising the flaps when their hand is really on the gear switch. It should not raise with the airspeed switch not registering enough speed to let it in any event. If I were speculating on incidents vs Iron condor stock options, I would go long on a mechanical cause.

[rbridges]

5 hours ago, Jerry 5TJ said:

Well, there's the engine and prop too

at least that plane is new enough that the gear up won't total it.

 

edit--gear collapse

[Jerry 5TJ]

7 hours ago, Marauder said:

Where is the flap switch relative to the gear switch on the Ovation? Mine is on the quadrant away from the gear switch?

The 2000-2003 M20R flap switch is below the mixture control.  Gear switch is high up on panel about 14" above throttle.  

[kortopates]

18 hours ago, mike_elliott said:

That would imply he either landed very very fast to disable the airspeed switch, or had a broken airspeed switch or pushed the override button, in addition to not realizing his hand was on the gear lever vs the flap switch. I know this happened to "slim" a few years ago in his Encore, but it takes a series of "wrong things" to make it happen.

Actually Mike, that wasn't in Slims upgraded 252 to Encore (which was sold to Henry) but in his new pressurized PT6 Meridian (or maybe Malibu) at the Grand Canyon airport taxing off the runway as you describe. I remember pretty well because I was next door hangar neighbors with Slim at MYF at the time - but this was over a decade ago!!

Edited July 26, 2016 by kortopates

[mike_elliott]

6 hours ago, kortopates said:

Actually Mike, that wasn't in Slims upgraded 252 to Encore (which was sold to Henry) but in his new pressurized PT6 Meridian (or maybe Malibu) at the Grand Canyon airport taxing off the runway as you describe. I remember pretty well because I was next door hangar neighbors with Slim at MYF at the time - but this was over a decade ago!!

Thanks Paul, I stand corrected. it has been a while!