<<For my own clarification, I was trained that the airspeed should be as slow as
possible when you go through the manual gear down and locked procedure.  In
fact I've got a line in my check list that indicates 87 knots when going
through the manual procedure.

I don't remember which Lancair you have.  Mine is a LNC2 360. Perhaps the 120
knot speed is for a different model Lancair.  What are other's thoughts?>>

 

Lower is better.  Testing the free fall at higher speeds will tell you the health of your gas strut (and how much friction you have in your system).  The most severe test is to free fall at too high an air speed, say 120, and then slowly decrease speed until the nose gear locks.  This way gravity and momentum cannot aid in locking the gear.  It is all up to the gas strut.  In a real emergency when you only get one chance, you would want to slow down as much as possible to let gravity assist in locking the nose gear.  The air load on the nose strut is a fcn of vel^2, so there is a big difference between 100, 90, and 80 knots.  

If the system has too much friction due to binding etc., free fall in flight may not even be possible.  The stock set-up will lock the nose strut at more than 100 kts.

 

 

Chris Zavatson

N91CZ

360std