gear unsafe light

[jezzie]

I need some help from all the Mooney maintenance professionals. The AME that I use works on mostly other airplanes. Here is what happened.

I was bringing myself current with solo night landings tonight and on the fourth take off after establishing 80 kt climb selected gear up and flaps up. Flaps retracted properly but did not hear or feel the usual comforting sound that the gear makes and the red gear unsafe light would not go out. I tried to recycle the gear a few times and nothing. It became evident I had a potential issue with the gear. I turned the auto pilot on and selected heading hold and altitude hold and performed the emergency procedure and started turning the gear crank expecting to have the normal 110 turns and then see the gear safe light come on. I don’t think I got much past 40 to 50 turns and then the gear crank just would not turn any more. But still no green light Off to the International airport, they had more lights and emergency equipment. The flight took about 20 minutes and I was starting to feel fairly sure that the gear was down or at least the nose gear was down because my feet and legs were getting cold, plus at 80 to 90 kts and low power settings you could hear the noise of the air over the gear and it felt like the gear was down. After three passes at the International airport and after shining big spotlights at me as I flew over they confirmed that all three wheels were down, and I made an uneventful landing. After shutting the engine down and did a quick check of the gear and it all looked normal. I would like some advice and pointers

Here are my thoughts and questions.

1. When I selected gear up the unsafe light just stayed on.

2. Is there some sort of safety mechanism in place that the gear will not retract if one of the gear switches malfunction?

3. I was expecting to turn the crank for 110 turns, and knew how that feels cause I did an emergency gear extension before I flew my Mooney home.

4. Perhaps the gear didn’t even retract.

5. No circuit breakers had blown.

6. After landing I crawled under the plane and confirmed the gear knuckles were in the over center position.

7. If the gear was down and locked why could I not get the normal green gear light?

8. I had a complete gear actuator overhaul completed and this perhaps was my 30^th landing, I just did not expect to have any gear problems.

Eldon

M20J

C-GJEZ

[jezzie]

post made

[xftrplt]

I notice no mention of the 'tween the seats bell crank indicator, which is the ultimate determinate of "down and locked." If your aircraft has one, and you checked it, and it indicated DAL, emergency over; land.

Tower flybys, though fun, are generally considered useless in ascertaining whether gear are locked, especially at night.

[flyboy0681]

I notice no mention of the 'tween the seats bell crank indicator, which is the ultimate determinate of "down and locked."

I was going to ask the same thing.

[jezzie]

The between the seats bell crank indicator did not light up, that was actually the first thing I looked for before and after the emergency gear extension. I talked to my AME after I landed and he thought perhaps a switch failed, won't know till we get it up on jacks.

[flyboy0681]

The between the seats bell crank indicator did not light up, that was actually the first thing I looked for before and after the emergency gear extension.

But was it showing green with the white bar aligned?

[Awful_Charlie]

The between the seats bell crank indicator did not light up, that was actually the first thing I looked for before and after the emergency gear extension. I talked to my AME after I landed and he thought perhaps a switch failed, won't know till we get it up on jacks.

The light doesn't "come on" - it is on with the master switch, and allows you to see the green line of the white and red hatched area. If the bulb has blown, replace it, but nevertheless, one of the best reasons to make sure you have a working torch in the cockpit when flying at night.

It sounds like the gear actuator CB tripped when you attempted to retract the gear after the last circuit, which would expalin why moving the switch had no effect - you make no observation that you pulled the CB before hand cranking it down, and AFAICR that is a checklist item for 'emergency' gear extension

[flyboy0681]

The light doesn't "come on" - it is on with the master switch, and allows you to see the green line of the white and red hatched area.

This has been the subject of a major discussion here. The light appears to be on the same circuit (at least on some J's) as the gear light on the annunciator panel. In other words, the floor light does not illuminate full time but rather when the annunciator light is energized.

[Awful_Charlie]

This has been the subject of a major discussion here. The light appears to be on the same circuit (at least on some J's) as the gear light on the annunciator panel. In other words, the floor light does not illuminate full time but rather when the annunciator light is energized.

Ah - I stand corrected! It shows the limitation of that system though - it is all hanging on a series of microswitches (which in my experience are the most fault prone part of a retractable gear a/c) and just duplicating the annunciator panel bulb (not necessarily a bad thing, as we only have one bulb in the panel, rather than three which can be swapped around to determine if it is a bulb issue, but still prefer the positive confirmation indicated by the position of the torque bar)

[jetdriven]

Our1977 M20J, before we owned it, had retract problems in cold weather and they installed as cold weather kit. The rubber shock discs change properties in cold weather and would cause the squat switch on the left main to not open at liftoff, preventing the gear motor from getting power. The "unsafe" light illuminates because the gear is not agreeing with switch position. The floor light does not illuminate until the gear is down. IIRC it is wired into the same source as the green "GR DOWN" light on the panel.

Check this out, Eldon.

1977 M20J's are unique to this as they have a Dukes actuator and a squat switch on the left main. Other Mooneys use an airspeed switch.

[jezzie]

I did get the necessary paper work complete and flew my Mooney back to my home base with the gear down. I am still going through in my mind the events that led to this situation. I can now get my Mooney up on jacks and see what is happening. My new to me Mooney and this experience has produced a new determination to know more. Just wished I lived closer to San Antonio, Kerrville, Lakeport, Sacramento, Willmar or Longview. Thank you for all your help and input, it seems that in this neck of the woods I have to take the lead and educate the AME's, and they get to send me an invoice for my time and theirs.