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<< Lancair Builders' Mail List >>
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About 12:30 this afternoon I got a call from the Palo Alto tower. They told
me that Derek Hine in N114L (IV-P) was orbiting the airport with the nose
gear stuck up and that he had asked them to call me to see if I had any
bright ideas as what to do next. He had about two hours of fuel to burn so
we had a little time. The fellow at the tower said that he had made a low
pass and the nose gear doors were about 1/2 open. Cycling the gear and 4G
pull ups were also tried. I signed off and went out to the hanger and put my
plane on jacks so that I could cycle the nose gear to try to figure out what
could be stuck. The only thing that made sense would be if the wheel had
turned and wedged against the doors. This didn't make much sense as I knew
that 114L had a centering cam. A foreign object was another possibility.
Maybe it could be shaken loose.
I called the tower and they relayed my suggestion that Derek shake the plane
with the elevator as he moved the gear handle from up to down. When all else
fails hit it, right? Well this didn't work either. I asked how the pilot was
doing and the tower said that he was remarkably calm but he sounded a little
pissed off. Gee, really? More attempts were made with similar results.
The mixture was pulled back and the prop feathered on short final, fuel off,
masters off, door unlatched. Around 14:30 Derek set 114L down on the mains
on the centerline and held the nose off as long as possible. When the nose
dropped the plane slid about 30 meters to a stop and all three occupants
egressed without injury. Damage to the plane was limited to the propeller
blades (MT 4 blade). About as good an outcome as you could hope for under
the circumstances. Palo Alto is only 2500 feet, short for an emergency
landing but it is 114L's home base so familiarity counts for something.
In retrospect, the only thing that wasn't tried would have been to pull the
HPU breaker and cycle the gear to dump all the pressure. Shaking the nose
with the elevator may have caused the nose gear to bounce on the doors and
dislodged the wheel, or maybe not, but it would be something to do while you
were burning off fuel.
Back at the hanger it was discovered that the nose gear was twisted and
wedged against the door. Releasing the hydraulic pressure by cycling the
flaps allowed the nose gear to be pushed up slightly and rotated so that it
would extend. The "centering cam" was centering the nose wheel about 5
degrees off center. I asked Derek if he had made any crabbing crosswind
landings lately and if his last takeoff was crosswind. Neither was the case.
Further investigation showed that the roll pin was sheared (early style
strut without the clamp) and the flange had rotated relative to the strut.
This could happen if the airplane hit a bump during a right turn while
taxing. The bump would let the centering cam engage while the turn twisted
the strut, shearing the rollpin.
The offending strut has been removed and sent to Lancair for tear down and
inspection. I'll post the results when available.
Derek is a good friend and I am very pleased that his piloting skills,
familiarity with his airplane and it's emergency procedures combined for a
favorable outcome with no injuries and minimal damage to his beautiful
airplane. Officially this was an "Incident" and not an "Accident" as the
plane was undamaged (except for the prop strike) and there were no injuries.
Here is what I am going to do next:
1) Check my nose strut (along with the rest of the airplane).
2) Review the emergency procedures.
3) Fly a couple of practice emergency landings.
Care to join me?
Regards
Brent Regan
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LML website: http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html
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Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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