Damaged Nose Gear- AOG

[A64Pilot]

50 minutes ago, slowflyin said:

3 - 4 weeks for the repair. 

That’s not too bad really, it could be a whole lot worse, I assume your saying LASAR will repair and return the part in a month or less?

If Mooney can supply a new part, armed with the MM page PT20J posted, that’s what I would expect the FBO to pay for.

Edited September 19, 2021 by A64Pilot

[Hank]

2 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

I woud have bet money that the gear wasn’t heat treated, I guess I would have lost that bet

Heat treated to harden it, no. Heat treated for post-welding stress relief, yes. It's surprisingly common.

[A64Pilot]

7 minutes ago, Hank said:

Heat treated to harden it, no. Heat treated for post-welding stress relief, yes. It's surprisingly common.

That is what I was thinking as well, but reading the page PT20J posted it seems I was incorrect, it seems to me to plainly state heat treated to increase strength. They must be awfully thick tubes as I would think going to thicker tubes would be preferable to heat treating.

Stress relieving tubing is common especially on parts with a history of cracking, we stress relieved many tube assemblies, but the only actual heat treating of 4130 we did was the main spar caps, (we didn’t heat treat, we had it done) later the spar caps were changed to 4340 as it heat treats thick parts much more evenly than 4130

Edited September 19, 2021 by A64Pilot

[Ragsf15e]

2 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

That’s not too bad really, it could be a whole lot worse, I assume your saying LASAR will repair and return the part in a month or less?

If Mooney can supply a new part, armed with the MM page PT20J posted, that’s what I would expect the FBO to pay for.

Plus the labor to R&R it and inspect all the linkage thoroughly back to the rudder.  Oh and the airplane better be in a hangar the whole month you’re waiting.

[FloridaMan]

On 9/18/2021 at 8:58 AM, mike_elliott said:

You might reach out to Steve Rue srue@donmaxwell.com Steve used to be the parts guy at Mooney, now I believe is fed by Don.  Yours looks like "minor" damage...here is what could have resulted...BTW this was from a 30 hr old Acclaim that $ignature had their way with.

 

How does that happen? There doesn't appear to be significant damage to the tubes. Did the stop fail to break before the truss?

[N201MKTurbo]

3 minutes ago, FloridaMan said:

How does that happen? There doesn't appear to be significant damage to the tubes. Did the stop fail to break before the truss?

I was wondering the same thing. It doesn't look like it was turned too far, it looks like the gear was sheared off by pushing backwards. It failed at the pivot bolt! Maybe they were trying to push it back against a pair of chocks. 

[mike_elliott]

Video from the security cameras shows a tug pulling on the plane at about a 45 degree angle, well past the 11 deg left, 13 deg right max on a Mooney nose gear. The video was conclusive and the FBO's insurance took care of it because of this evidence. Anyway, to answer your question, thats how it happened, inspite of not seeing from the pic extensive tube damage. The stops took the load until they couldn't

 

[FloridaMan]

It got me thinking that perhaps the right solution would be to make a device that blocks the holes where you insert the tug, provides a new tube where a tug can be attached, and braces against that flat piece the stops hit and has a slotted path that limits range of motion. At the end of the slotted path, if the range is exceeded, the part where the tug is attached gets ejected. 

[Guest]

The safest way to move most airplanes is with a tug that incorporates a “Lazy Susan” type of turn table with nothing connected to the nose gear.

Clarence

[Ragsf15e]

On 9/18/2021 at 1:34 PM, GeeBee said:

I use this:

After reading this thread, I made one of these “do not tow” signs with 1/2” pvc that fits into the nose gear.  I gotta say, it scares me to have it in there because I might miss it on preflight and takeoff with it in there.  I ended up tying it to a hook on my cover so they are connected.

Dont save your nose gear only to destroy it when you retract the gear with the sign in!

[jaylw314]

57 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

After reading this thread, I made one of these “do not tow” signs with 1/2” pvc that fits into the nose gear.  I gotta say, it scares me to have it in there because I might miss it on preflight and takeoff with it in there.  I ended up tying it to a hook on my cover so they are connected.

Dont save your nose gear only to destroy it when you retract the gear with the sign in!

I just printed out a sign on paper, laminated it, punched some holes in the corners and looped some twine through it.  I tie it around the nose truss.  That way, if someone DOES need to tow it, they still can, but they can't say they didn't have fair warning.  Also, if I forget it, laminated paper is unlikely to damage anything...

[slowflyin]

On 9/21/2021 at 6:17 PM, M20Doc said:

The safest way to move most airplanes is with a tug that incorporates a “Lazy Susan” type of turn table with nothing connected to the nose gear.

Clarence

Same-we replaced both of our FBO tugs with lazy Susan types 

[slowflyin]

To tie this thread off- picked the AC up on Friday.   Thorough inspection revealed no addition damage.  So 8 days from the event to the AC released back into service.  I’m considering myself blessed.   Found the part, shippers were on time, mechanic on the field was fantastic, and the FBO went the extra mile!  Thanks again for all the thoughts and advice!

[carusoam]

Great follow-up Slow!

Thanks for sharing the details…

Go MS!

Best regards,

-a-