At 13:20 06/03/99, Mr D M Cope wrote:
>>Mindful that there have been a few incidents attributed to
failure of the latch/overcentre mechanism, I was wondering what the 'normal'
degree of overcentre is.<<
Don't know exactly but too much overcentre is as bad as too little. If the
aircraft bounces, which inevitably it will some time, the gear will be
pulled away from the overcentre position by its own momentum. If there were
a large amount of overcentre the rotating inertia of the mechanism could
flick it past the in line position and into an unsafe situation. The system
depends on the condition of the down lock to prevent this from happening.
For this reason it would be wise to incorporate the Europa mod fitting a
strut between the "elbow" of the gear lever and the pivot. This prevents
wear from developing in the highly stressed bolt holes which attach the
lever to the gear retraction arms.
Graham
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