Vintage Mooney gear failure at Friday Harbor (KFHR)

[Bolter]

saw this on FATPNW.  Unusual to collapse some gear on a Mooney with all gear linked.  Does this require failure of a connecting rod?  This appears to be at the end of the northbound runway 34, where you taxi to the parking area.  If so, unlikely this is a typical pilot-forgot situation.  

 

[Flyler]

That happened to me, not too long after touch down.  The mechanism that moves the gear up and down is designed to do so while the airplane is in the air.  It can handle the weight of the gear and the air drag, but not the weight of the plane.  Once the gear is down and "locked" it is the over center linkage at each individual wheel that handles the weight of the plane.  If one of those wheels isn't "locked", now you have a problem.  Depending on the circumstances it can cause the other two to unlock.  If the plane is sitting still or moving slowly, it's unlikely that the linkage can collapse both mains as it would have to lift the weight of the plane up first to do so.

 

I forgot to note - gear collapsed tend to happen near your birthday.  Don't fly your Mooney on or around your birthday.

[cliffy]

How many Mooneys get checked at each annual for the proper "over center" torque values with the 

proper tools?

If yours doesn't (or your mechanic doesn't have the special tools) then you need a different maintenance shop!

Its quick, its easy-   WITH the proper tools. NO excuse for not doing it every year. 

Vintage Mooneys today are basically scrap if this happens. 

[Fly Boomer]

10 hours ago, cliffy said:

If yours doesn't (or your mechanic doesn't have the special tools) then you need a different maintenance shop!

Or you can buy the tools (pretty cheap).

[TheAv8r]

It's also part of the 100hr AD, AD 73-21-01 which requires lubrication of the flight controls and checking the over center torque of the gear. +1 to cliffy, it's not hard. Jack the plane up, use the proper tool fitted correctly on to the joint (maintenance manual even has pictures for this) and a torque wrench to check it.