Alert notice /ES and IV owners.

A recent incident in which the nose wheel became caught in the nose wheel well which resulted in a failure of the nose gear to extend on landing. The cause was determined to be a looseness of the nose strut clamp--/locktite coming loose --- overturning of a tow bar --causing the nose will fork mounting flange to turn 5°/10° off to the side from the self centering straight-ahead position.

In addition my suggestion is to;

1. Remove cowling

2. Lift engine until nose wheel is off ground. Check with straightedge - nose wheel alignment.

If not straight-- if loose-- do not fly. Have strut overhauled by Lancair.

3. If straight---remove nose wheel and fork bolt ( if necessary to be able to access the clamp screw). Remove the Allen head screw on the clamp. Clean and put locktite on threads and reinstall and torque. Put torque seal on head.

4. Use paint or other indelible marking to index the nose strut (shiny part) and the clamp. Make this a preflight check item.

5. Additionally, make sure inside of nose wheel well has no bolts/and bolt heads or other protrusions that will catch on any part of the nose wheel mechanism. And Remove all insulation.

This will give a means to indicate, and possibly prevent a turning /or failure/ from the looseness of the bottom flange in the nose strut. In the case listed it was because of a tow bar exceeding the limits. The decal and markings are fine--but they are very inaccurate and hard to read from a vehicle using a tow bar.

A very important clue in this situation--is that on landing-- the airplane tends to dart--either left or right until weight is put on the nose and the strut compresses releasing itself from the self centering mechanism.

It is possible that a tow bar overturning will break the internal mechanism. In this case, index marks will not indicate a failure.

Only lifting the engine /extending the nose wheel strut/checking for looseness/ will show this problem.

Charlie K.