My mooney is toast

[usafhaynes1]

Annual done last June. I had 30 hours in the plane with no issues.

[N601RX]

Sorry to hear that.  It sounds like the preload was low on the nose gear.  Once it collapsed their wasn't enough preload left keep the Left main overcenter link down. 

 

Either use a shop who has the torque plates to check the preload and knows how to use them or buy them yourself and make sure the mechanic knows how to use them. I was able to find a set on E-bay a couple of years ago.  I also think Sabermechanic on here made several sets to sell.

[DaV8or]

It would be great if before the insurance company hauls the plane away, if you could get some photos of the broken part so that others here can see the failure mode and maybe be able to prevent it happening to another one of us. Learning from real world experiences is what will help us keep other Mooneys in the air.

 

I guess when you buy a $25K certified airplane, one has to assume that it is sort of disposable and living on borrowed time. It is always just one major failure away from scrap. Sadly, a $25k repair tends to come all too easily to airplanes.

 

GA as we once knew it, really is on it's last legs.

[usafhaynes1]

I took over 30 pics on my phone. I'll post them at soon as possible.

[N601RX]

My F model was purchased as salvage from the insurance company by the previous owner.   The reason for it being salvage was that the engine was stolen off it while it was tied down for a overnight stay at a remote airport.  Without the engine the clean but mostly original airframe sold for 21K.   I've also followed many of these light gear ups and they usually sell for around 20K.  In this case the insurance company will be out very little actual money.

[KSMooniac]

If the wing is bent enough to leak fuel then the airframe is toast, sorry.  The gear could be reworked easily enough, but if there is wing damage then the effort won't be economically feasible.  Really sad situation!

[N601RX]

Here is an old article I had.  It happened twice to this plane in 30 hrs.

2 gear col.pdf

[RocketAviator]

Ok since I am flying today some comments on here scared me so I called my insurance and was told that it depends on what your insurance policy consists of as to what is covered and that they would pay for.  Mine is complete coverage which includes stationary  external motion (tug-tow), taxi (any motion under its own power once the prop starts regardless if motion or not), flight and any form of landing on or off field.

 

Be safe!

[yvesg]

Here is an old article I had.  It happened twice to this plane in 30 hrs.

Interesting article!

Can someone explain to me what is the "pre-load"?

Yves

[Dale Logsdon]

Your landing gear is lock down with a joint much like your knee. When standing you have your knee locked over center and can hold lots of weight untill someone comes up behind you and pushes your knee forward and your almost fall. The force needed to push your knee forward is your pre-load. Same on your airplane. Light on your preload and the knee joint on your landing can collapse easily. Very important to know your pe-load.

[Marauder]

Your landing gear is lock down with a joint much like your knee. When standing you have your knee locked over center and can hold lots of weight untill someone comes up behind you and pushes your knee forward and your almost fall. The force needed to push your knee forward is your pre-load. Same on your airplane. Light on your preload and the knee joint on your landing can collapse easily. Very important to know your pe-load.

And even more important to make sure it is set correctly! Some mechanics not familiar with Mooneys either fail to check it correctly or in some cases, at all. My very first mechanic never checked it on the first annual.

[yvesg]

Thanks Dale and Marauder. Several Mooneys I have seen (if not all) have the pilot side gear slightly tilted to the inside. (Including mine) Does this angle has any incidence on the required (safe) pre-load value?

Yves

[Marauder]

Thanks Dale and Marauder. Several Mooneys I have seen (if not all) have the pilot side gear slightly tilted to the inside. (Including mine) Does this angle has any incidence on the required (safe) pre-load value?

Yves

 

I have seen this as well. Not sure what it means, but it certainly would make sense if the pre-load is different on one side over the other.

[KSMooniac]

I think the angle of the gear doors create and optical illusion with the main gear.  For grins when I was fitting the new lower gear doors on my plane, I actually leveled my plane and measured the angle of the gear legs relative to vertical.  IIRC, one was 90 degrees and the other was 89 or 89.5, which surprised me because they sure look like they're angled inboard!  

[Hank]

My guess is the gear appear angled because they are not perpendicular to the wing, which has a several degrees of dihedral. Both of my main gear appear to be angled inwards, not just the left one.

[Dale Logsdon]

The pre-load has no effect on gear tilt or camber. This is not ajustable

[usafhaynes1]

Possible good news developing about my plane. I can't divulge anything until after Monday.

[Urs_Wildermuth]

keeping my fingers crossed!

[carusoam]

It's Wednesday where URS is. What's the update?

-a-

[Hank]

enquiring minds want to know . . . .

[usafhaynes1]

I apologize for the delay. I've been in military training and dealing with the FAA and ntsb as well as insurance. The plane is officially economically totaled. They are salvaging it out. I'm getting a check for the total insurance. Time to look for another plane and yes, I'm still a mooney fanatic!

Ntsb classifies it as a minor incident.

FAA cannot determine the cause at this time. All logs are complete, the nose gear linkage was broken in 4 places with no signs of wear and tear or corrosion. All I can say is I'm thankful there were witnesses who saw me land, taxi to fuel and taxi back out with no issues prior to incident.

[RocketAviator]

I apologize for the delay. I've been in military training and dealing with the FAA and ntsb as well as insurance. The plane is officially economically totaled. They are salvaging it out. I'm getting a check for the total insurance. Time to look for another plane and yes, I'm still a mooney fanatic!

Ntsb classifies it as a minor incident.

FAA cannot determine the cause at this time. All logs are complete, the nose gear linkage was broken in 4 places with no signs of wear and tear or corrosion. All I can say is I'm thankful there were witnesses who saw me land, taxi to fuel and taxi back out with no issues prior to incident.

Good luck!  Glad to hear things worked out as best they could for you in such circumstances, mostly that you and no one else got hurt!

[Tim Jodice]

Are you after another C model?

[usafhaynes1]

I'm looking at an m20e with autopilot right now.  It's about 10k less than an F model I was researching.

My requirements are Mooney, less than 1500 hours on engine, autopilot, IFR cert.  There are a couple within my price range.

[usafhaynes1]

I keep up with NTSB accident reports and am bewildered as to why my incident was not published.  I'm not looking for any validation but I find it strange that all accidents (fatal/non fatal) and incidents are reported.  This link: http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20130520X11307&key=1 shows another aircraft damaged due to landing gear collapse on 19 May while I had my gear collapse on 14 May.  The NTSB declared it an incident but didn't report it.  Theories?