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A few weeks ago I had a very enlightening
experience.I had to fly with absolutely no pressure in my nose-wheel strut.I
figured it would be a not event--- Not so. On takeoff the plane was accelerating
in a negative attitude until about 10 MPH above lift off speed, it went positive
and pitched up to an incredible high pitch attitude.The AOA was screaming at me
and I was scared to death. Fortunately instinct took over and I forced the nose
down and was able to climb out. The landing, 2 hours later was also quite
exciting since the wing stayed positive until the last moment when it went
negative with a vengeance. The journey was forced to continue without help of an
FBO, so the next idea was to do a soft field takeoff. Don't try to do
this in your LNC2. Maybe your 152, but not a LNC2. It gets into ground
affect,then out of it, then in, then out,etc,etc.It was almost worse than the
1st,"shot out a cannon" takeoff. After reaching our destination, we decided,
like good homebuilders, to fix it ourselves. With a bit of shampoo from the
hotel and low air-pressure from the fuel truck, we were able to determine that
the housing for the Schrader valve was loose. 1/4 turn and a scrounged up
Nitrogen bottle and we were fixed. Now for some good advise. If this happens to
you, go to the autoparts store, buy a 3 " length of water pressure hose and 2
hose clamps, and clamp that baby into the extended position, so it will not ride
metal to metal with a negative angle of attack. Unfortunately, we thought of
this idea after arriving home. Sincerely, Fred N9BF(don't fly like my
brother)
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