HELP--FBO may have broken nose wheel tie rod

[par]

There is absolutely no sign of rust on the broken link.

[Andy95W]

12 hours ago, par said:

Thanks for the offer but i'm going to leave the plane here until it is repaired. I plan to have a talk with the shop tomorrow to relay the need to check everything throughly, which they already said they were going to do. Also, the tube is dented, not bent as stated previously. I am by no means looking to take the FBO's money. I only want them to pay for what they damaged but since everything will be open, I want to replace any minor things that are part of the system at my expense.

 

IIRC, the maximum allowable dent is 1/32".  No doubt, if they turned it far enough to snap the link, it'll be more than that.

Good luck, glad the FBO 'fessed up.

[par]

Just now, N1395W said:

This is horrible advice and should not be attempted, not even if you leave the gear in the down position.  And attempting to retract the gear with the broken steering linkage is asking for additional damage and a potential for a jammed gear.

I doubt anyone was seriously considering doing this but had to throw in my $.02 just in case.

Trust me, there's no way in hell I would attempt this. No flight is worth that risk, especially one with your family in it.

[neilpilot]

20 minutes ago, N1395W said:

This is horrible advice and should not be attempted, not even if you leave the gear in the down position.  And attempting to retract the gear with the broken steering linkage is asking for additional damage and a potential for a jammed gear.

I doubt anyone was seriously considering doing this but had to throw in my $.02 just in case.

Absolutely horrible advice.  If you managed to stay straight on the departure roll and your gear retract & deployment was fine, can you imaging what your steering issues would be like on landing? 

[Rwsavory]

I'm reminded of the maxim, "Never take a problem into the air."  

I was faced with the same choice with the same problem earlier this year and chose to stay on the ground.  I never regretted it a second.  The aircraft is absolutely, positively unairworthy without that link, with all the practical, legal and moral consequences that follow from that fact.

 

[par]

Just an update and a very positive review for Hawthorne out of Islip (KISP).

Like I mentioned before, these guy claimed responsibility without me even asking and paid for my airfare out of NY the day after the issue was found along with my return fare to pick up the plane. They kept my mooney in the hangar for the 2 weeks that it remained in NY. Oh, and they also covered the gas for the trip...25ish gallons. I'm sure we can think of some places that would immediately try to place the blame on the pilot but Hawthorne is clearly top notch and above all of that. On previous trips, they have moved the mooney into the hangar if needed for wx without charging a fee. All in all, you can't go wrong with Hawthorne.

Aside from this, the plane made it back home to its hangar today. It handled well on the ground and in the air. On the pre-flight, I thought I was sensing more slop in the rudder than I was used to but I think that was just me getting the best of myself. I ended up calling the shop that worked on the plane to confirm if they had looked at the entire system and they assured me they had and found everything to be in proper condition. The weather was also perfect for the flight back so all in all, a good end result.

It was also nice to get a new set of eyes on the plane and sure enough they found and fixed several things. The biggest safety concern was rusting hardware on the throttle linkage and some leaking hose couplers. I am hopeful that this will fix the oily mess that usually resides under the cowling.