Nose Gear Towing Damage Poll

[PT20J]

In my case, by sacrificing itself, the stop probably reduced the damage to the tube so the dent was within the 1/32" spec to maintain airworthiness (you can see the dent in the upper portion of the gear leg tube where the paint is missing.) But the stops are not very strong and are easily broken off. You can see the remains in the upper right.

[N204TA]

Well, I have now.  In almost 30 years of ownership, I haven’t had a problem but, apparently, either the FBO on my last trip or my avionics shop towed the airplane and overdid it.  I saw that I had little paint chips but, we just started the annual today and, sure enough, I actually have two dimples.  Sigh.

A new truss is on the way.  Almost $1,300.

[Falcon Man]

Confession - I literally ripped off the nose gear in a towing incident. During heavy wet snowfall winter I was moving my airplane from it's tie down area so the airport snow plow crew could remove the ice dams from the front and back of my aircraft which was created by the previous plower's work. After shoveling the crusted ice/snow I  towed my aircraft  with my vehicle and I did not realize that one main tire was frozen to the ground by melted snow and refreezing. So when I was pulling the aircraft it jackknifed so hard it spun the other main tire around and twisted the nose gear clear off and the prop struck the ground. Yep - it resulted in an insurance claim for repair and an ENGINE/PROP IRAN. Hard lesson learned from my ignorance! Do I qualify for a "most stupid aircraft act"? My pilot buddies thought so at the time!

[ronr]

I've had it happen twice. Once at an FBO / radio shop about 40 years ago. I found it after they had moved it and they picked up the tab for my shop to fix it.

I happened again a year or two ago. I have no idea how it happened as it did not "appear" that the aircraft had been moved, and I did not check it after it had been parked on the ramp at a particular airport, but a later inspection done because the steering felt squirrely on the ground revealed that the truss was severely bent and cracked. Insurance paid for that one.

[The Other Red Baron]

I haven't been everywhere in our Mooney, but I've been around a bit.  After 5 years of random FBOs towing us around while on trips our local maintenance shop bent metal when towing it over for an oil change.  They're taking care of us but it was the last thing I ever expected.  After a few trips to random airports I even pretty quickly stopped telling FBOs about the turning radius cause they all acted like they were aware so I felt like I was being a bit over protective.