Manual Gear Hazard!!

[aeromancfi]

Related to me from an airline pilot: While flying his MOONEY,  he had a passenger in the rear seat. The passenger turned around to retrieve something from the baggage area and accidentally put her foot on the retracted gear handle. This released the gear and the lever went flying up and forward just missing the pilot's wrist.  The aircraft was in cruise configuration so the gear extension was way above the placard airspeed. You can imagine the force behind it. The pilot said he thought it would have broken his wrist if it was in the way. 

THIS IS A WARNING FOR ALL MOONIACS WITH MANUAL GEAR!   Be sure to brief your passengers to keep their feet off the gear handle/lever!  In 23 years of owning and flying Mooneys with manual gear, I have never heard of this hazard before.

 

Aeroman     

[MooneyMitch]

This can and indeed does happen.  If the handle is not fully engaged into the down lock position, it will come up and rap you a good one!

Also, if the floor up gear lock block is worn [rounded out to oval shape], this can also contribute to releasing the bar. 

Speaking from experience !

[mooneygirl]

I will chime in because I have had experience with both the gear up and down lock.  The former after landing in Redding, CA.  [Able to hold the gear up until help arrived] and the latter pretty recently. The gear came down and the bar smacked me hard in the wrist. I never realized how often I fly with my hand on or near the trim wheel.  LASAR has a great fix for this!!

[jetdriven]

My doctor used to have an M20E. His daughter was playing around in the back seat and knocked the gear handle out of the uplock on the floor. he was going about 160 knots at the time, and when that Johnson bar hit the panel the entire airplane shook. He was sure he broke something, but it was OK.

[scottfromiowa]

Quote: jetdriven

My doctor used to have an M20E. His daughter was playing around in the back seat and knocked the gear handle out of the uplock on the floor. he was going about 160 knots at the time, and when that Johnson bar hit the panel the entire airplane shook. He was sure he broke something, but it was OK.

[takair]

I had it release because I had the passenger seatbelt under it such that it didn't lock in the gear up position completely. When it let go, I had my hand on the throttle, it caught my elbow and felt like it was going to break my wrist as it shoved my arm forward. Lesson learned: I now always secure the passenger seat belt if nobody is in the seat. I did check the gear doors after the incident (I was well over Vle), but no damage.

[rob]

Quote: jetdriven

My doctor used to have an M20E. His daughter was playing around in the back seat and knocked the gear handle out of the uplock on the floor. he was going about 160 knots at the time, and when that Johnson bar hit the panel the entire airplane shook. He was sure he broke something, but it was OK.

[AmigOne]

On a related issue, checking the area between the seats is part of my checklist because in a couple of instances stuff between the seats has prevented me from locking up the handle.  In another instance taking off from a higher altitude airport in WV in the middle of summer we had crossed the seatbelts making impossible to lower the handle. It created an interesting time as we unbuckled while climbing to avoid the landscape with the gear down...