Flying C152 speeds for a flight

[wishboneash]

Yesterday, returning from San Luis Obispo, my landing gear failed to retract (something I realized a few minutes after takeoff). Noticed the slow climb and difficulty gaining speed etc once levelled off. So checking the gear down light, it was green! OK. The gear switch was in the up position so surely I had not forgotten. The actuator C/B had tripped. So I thought maybe it was a temporary thing and I cycled the gear switch a couple of times. I continued to trip when in the up position. So I left the gear in the down position and continued the flight at 100-105 knots. How embarrassing! Fortunately, nothing else was wrong. I had to play with the power settings and opened up the cowl flaps to keep the CHTs under 400. Made the flight back 30min later than expected.

I told ATC about my problem (before they realized that had found the slowest Mooney in the world). They were very helpful, offering assistance at every change in controller including OAK centre. I thought that was great. At Livermore, before landing I wanted to make sure I didn't have asymmetrical deployment (unlikely since the plane flew level without significant control inputs), I had the tower take a look on a low approach. Everything looked good. Circled the pattern and landed uneventfully.

On the ground, I saw that one of the nose gear linkages (left nose gear door) was dangling and disconnected from the door. So it is clear that while retracting, the nose wheel could not retract and it was contacting the door and stopping the motor. Now, I have to get that linkage re-connected for sure and the gear swing checked etc. What else could go wrong - damage to the actuator motor, misalignment in the linkages? I will probably have it fixed on the field and tested, but any advice on what else to look for would be appreciated from the experts on this group... And of course, a more careful preflight looking at the linkages in the gear doors for all wheels would be on my checklist! Thanks.

[MooneyMitch]

So sorry for your situation.  Excellent on the safe landing outcome.

My opinion is to have this area inspected for damage first.  If none observed, have linkage reconnected and perform multiple retractions/extensions to make sure all is well.  Of course this is all done while aircraft is safely supported on jack's.

Also, this is an excellent opportunity to have all other doors/linkage inspected for correctness, and a great opportunity for you to become more familiar with these areas of your Mooney.

 Congratulations on a happy outcome with your landing and I hope you enjoyed your visit here to the San Luis/Pismo Beach area.

[flyboy0681]

Not sure I would have tried cycling it more than once. I would be concerned about starting a fire with resetting the breaker more than once, and second, what if it eventually went up but didn't come down.

Just my 2¢.

 

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

In case others do not know about this...If the latch over your manual gear extension pump handle gets knocked off the handle, raising your gear handle will result in your gear circuit breaker popping, and the gear remaining in the down-and-locked position.  (I thought that was going to be the lesson from this thread.)  Put the latch in the proper position, reset the CB, and the gear will function normally.

One other thing to be cognizant, is that flying with a known malfunction can get you in trouble with the FAA.  This includes flying with malfunctioning gear.  As soon as you realize you have a malfunction and complete troubleshooting it, you are expected to take the safest, most expeditious route to land As Soon As Practical.  I am sure this is exactly what wishboneash did, and everyone else will do the same.

Both of these bits of knowledge come to me from experience.

[Yetti]

When was the last time someone took the panel off next to the door?  You have loosen the door to get to the inner rows of screws for the panel.

Was it the top linkage bolt or the one on the door?   I always thought the one on the door would be hard to fall off.

 

[Hank]

That happened to me, too, once. The lineman marshaling me in said the left gear door was flapping in the prop blasr. Sure enough, my linkage arm was broken, bought a replacement from LASAR. Count your blessings, you saved an AMU.

The broken piece as found dangling, and the new part:

Couldn't have been happier with LASAR's service!

Edited May 22, 2017 by Hank

[wishboneash]

Ah-1 Cobra Pilot hit the nail on the head. Hit it right, bang and centre! The linkage was never re-connected after the annual and I had been flying merrily all these months with one door never closing. The manual gear extension handle was unlatched but not obviously so when I did a quick glance at it during the flight. First time in 5 years of Mooney ownership.

Learnt a couple of things - (1) my mistaken assumption that the manual gear extension handle would have some sort of mechanical switch that disabled the actuator. No, Cobra Pilot rightly pointed out, the gearing mechanism will trip the breaker due to it getting blocked from doing its job. (2) I had some weird notion that the gear door would interfere with the operation of the nose wheel retraction. Thinking more about it and looking at it carefully, there was no reason why it should.

Everything is fine now, the linkage was reconnected and the manual gear extn latch reset. Swung the gear five times and things are back to normal. Thanks everyone for the education! Looks like I may regain a few knots which I had been complaining about recently!

[kortopates]

Hopeful you or your mechanic also tested the manual emergency extension mechanism as well. The brass clutch can get chewed up from multiple attempts with the latch unlocked.


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[wishboneash]

Hopeful you or your mechanic also tested the manual emergency extension mechanism as well. The brass clutch can get chewed up from multiple attempts with the latch unlocked.


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Yes. We had the manual retraction checked as well. It was fine.

[Yetti]

Makes you want to put a camera on the belly and fly around a bit