Message text written by "Ira Rampil, MD"
>Someone forgot to lock the gear lever down. Apparently, the prop was
dinged, but 4EA is already flying again.<
I use a microswitch to show a red light if the gear is not down and locked
- might be worth considering? Also as I have had one outrigger be a bit
lazy to lock down I have been glad that I have microswitches fitted to them
as well. In my case the leg always (so far ) locks down but only after
several seconds when the aircraft has slowed up a bit. This is probably due
to reducing air loads on the leg. On discussion with Europa I have made
some adjustments and added more grease. We shall find out whether it works
on the next test flight. On examining the working of the mechanism I
noticed that the leg will not lock down if the smaller spring is not
powerful enough to resist the air loads whilst the gear is in transit. This
spring is only meant to extend once the gear is down to allow the flap to
extend further to its down position. Has anyone else come across this
problem and if so what conclusions were reached?
Nigel Charles
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