Mooney Ovation Gear issue

[DrTimcat]

Today I was flying practice instrument approaches in my 95 M20R. On the final approach at the outer marker, I dropped the gear. The gear came down and locked, But the circuit breaker popped and the gear unsafe light lit up. The gear horn warning also went off. The manual indicator on the floor was showing down and locked. I did a missed and climbed to check the problem. I reset the breaker, raised the gear without incident. Re-lowering the gear resulted in full extension once again with the breaker popping again at the bottom of the cycle and the gear unsafe light illuminating. Once again, the mechanical indicator on the floor showed down and locked. I ended up landing on a grass runway instead of the concrete for safety reasons and taxied back to my hanger. Is this a gear actuator swith failure? Adjustment issue? Gear was lubricated and checked in June at annual. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

[LANCECASPER]

4 hours ago, DrTimcat said:

Today I was flying practice instrument approaches in my 95 M20R. On the final approach at the outer marker, I dropped the gear. The gear came down and locked, But the circuit breaker popped and the gear unsafe light lit up. The gear horn warning also went off. The manual indicator on the floor was showing down and locked. I did a missed and climbed to check the problem. I reset the breaker, raised the gear without incident. Re-lowering the gear resulted in full extension once again with the breaker popping again at the bottom of the cycle and the gear unsafe light illuminating. Once again, the mechanical indicator on the floor showed down and locked. I ended up landing on a grass runway instead of the concrete for safety reasons and taxied back to my hanger. Is this a gear actuator swith failure? Adjustment issue? Gear was lubricated and checked in June at annual. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

If you choose to fly it, your next flight should be to a Mooney specialist who really understands the landing gear. 

Almost 10 years ago I ended up with a Gear Unsafe light a couple times flicker on a 2000 M20R. I should have had it looked it immediately, but did eventually. While the shop was backing it into the hangar they had the nose gear collapse and it rested on the gear doors preventing the prop from hitting the ground. Insurance covered the repairs, but lesson learned for me. I should have flown to the shop sooner .

[Fritz1]

Yes get a technician on the job asap that understands the Mooney gear, if possible in your hangar before the bird goes anywhere, find out very cautiously if anything in the gear rigging was changed at annual

[N201MKTurbo]

Most likely there is a problem with the down limit switch. The switch isn’t switching so it doesn't stop the motor or indicate the gear is down. It can seriously damage your gear system by doing that. If you do fly it, don’t extend it with motor, use the emergency and stop when the lines line up, not when you get a green, cause that isn’t working.

Your best bet is to get someone at your home drome to fix it.

[DrTimcat]

Thanks guys! The bird is grounded and in my hanger. Going to have a Mooney familiar guy look at it and also call my specialist on the other side of Missouri that performs my annuals. OK to tow it to another Hanger if needed? Pulling on the nose gear shouldn't be a problem, but pushing could collapse nose gear? We did push it into the hanger by the wings while steering it as opposed to pushing with a tug just in case. 

[DrTimcat]

Also, I have put 50 hours on the plane since annual in June. Over 50 gear operations in that time with no problems.