May 26, 2013 events of Lancair N471LA
Nose gear failure at F45
Submitted
by Paul A. Hershorin
On Sunday morning at about 9:30 a.m. my wife Pat and I, after doing our
preflight inspection and engine checks, took off from F45 (North Palm Beach
Air Park) to fly to Florida Keys Marathon (MTH) for lunch. Upon lift off
we had 22 gallons of fuel on board for a 40 minute flight. We climbed to
8,500 feet VFR, I set up the plane on a fuel burn of 8.4 gallons per hour and
we indicated 240 miles per hour. It was a beautiful flight without any
problems. We landed, parked the plane and went into the FBO signed in
and went to Burdines for lunch which was most enjoyable.
After
lunch, we returned to the FBO, visited the EAA museum and then Pat rested in
the FBO while I moved the plane to the fuel pump. To move the plane to the gas
pump I used my tow bar. I did not see any oil or hydraulic fluid on the
ground by the nose wheel or on the nose strut at this time. The
plane took 26.35 gallons of fuel and then I did my preflight inspection.
There were not any preflight problems. We taxied to runway 07, did the
engine checks, announced that we were taking active runway 07 and will be
departing to the north. Upon lift off I raised the gear lever and flap
switch and immediately noticed no gear lights showing up or down. I told
my wife there was a problem—no lights and the plane was not accelerating—I
could tell that the gear had not retracted. I announced to MTH that we
had no lights indicating the position of the landing gear and that I was going
to circle and do a low pass over runway 07—could someone tell me the position
of the gear. First pass I was told that it was “UP”, however, with the
drag on the plane I said that I would make a second pass—this time there was a
helicopter watching that said the gear was “down” I tried to recycle the
gear without any luck. I told my wife that we would fly to our home base
F45 along the coast.
About
15 or 20 miles out of MTH we had a warning light telling us that the
“volts” was in the yellow range—my hydraulic pump light indicator was on
so I pulled the 50amp breaker—the “volts” went from 9 back up to 13-14.
It was a slow flight at 143 kts. at 2,000 feet looking out for many planes and
staying out of Miami and then Ft Lauderdale air space.
When
we reached Boca I called Palm Beach tower and told them the problem that I was
having and asked if I could do a tower fly by and if they could tell if
the gear was locked down. On the first pass I was too low for the tower
to be able to tell if the gear was locked in or not so I was asked to come
around again but higher this time. I came around at about 250 feet and
the tower said that they thought it may be locked in place but they had no way
of knowing. I asked to go to my home base at F45 and they vectored me on
course.
Here
is the problem—to lock in the main gear I did side movers to catch the wind on
the gear doors that are attached to the gear, this locked them in, however the
nose gear free falls from the up position being pushed by a gas strut—no way
of knowing if it was in position or not. I announced a right hand down
wind for runway 08R at F45, announced a right base and then final 08R full
stop—somewhere in the discussion or Palm Beach tower announced to F45 I was
having gear problems—on final I told Pat to remove her glasses in case she
might hit the dash, said that on touchdown I was going to pull the fuel all
the way out, turn off the ignition and three master switches which I
did—landed on the mains and held it off as long as I could and then it settled
on the props shattering all three blades and the plane came to a stop a 1,000
feet down the runway. Pat and I looked at each other, I climbed
out of the plane and saw people running from the FBO and individuals on golf
carts coming to our aid, I helped Pat out with bystander help—the sheriff
dept. arrived in two to three minutes and the fire dept arrived in about 10 to
15 minutes. Neither Pat or I were hurt, in fact it was a very smooth
landing and stop.
A
fork truck was brought out and I connected a tow rope to two blades of the
propeller, the fork lift lifted the nose of the plane and we pulled the nose
gear into position and strapped it to the two bottom propeller blades pulling
the gear forward.
The
FBO sent out their airplane tow and they towed the plane to my hangar. While,
waiting for the plane to be raised the sheriff did his report, fire department
did their report and I received a call from the FAA stating that it was “OK”
to move the plane from the runway and I would be contacted this week by the
FAA.
Upon
inspection of the nose gear by an IA, A&P it was found that the nose gear
door hydraulic hose fitting, aluminum, sheared off at the actuator. This
must have happened upon lift off when I moved the gear switch to retract the
landing gear and pumped all the hydraulic fluid overboard and released the
load on the nose gear. I tried many maneuvers, but could not get the
nose gear to lock in.
Once
again, I want to state that neither Pat nor I were injured and want to thank
all the individuals from MTH to F45 for their assistance and
help.
Submitted
by Paul A. Hershorin 5/29/13