Alchemy
Well-Known Member
Last night I took off in the seneca with about 800 foot ceilings. After I lifted off and climbed to 100 feet AGL I lifted the gear lever. The red "Gear Unsafe" warning light illuminated as it always does for a few seconds when the gear is in transition, only this time it stayed on.....indefinitely. I quickly glanced into the convex mirror on my left engine nacelle to identify the position of the nose gear and noticed it was still extended. I had no way of knowing if the main gear were still extended too, or if they had retratcted. Next I looked over at the breakers and found that none of them had tripped.
At this point I was well into the soup and realized I was going to need to return to the airport. I called tower and told them I needed to return. The controller gave me a vector. I leveled off at 3000 and realized I was going to need to keep my speed below 120 mph (max gear extended speed). I found the right power setting for that, and decided to go ahead and see what happened when I moved the gear lever to the "down" position. I felt and heard the hydraulic pump working and felt a slight thud as (at least one) of the main gear locked into place.
Problem: I recieved a green gear down light on my nose gear and right main, but the left main gear indicator would not illuminate. I have no way of visually confirming weather the main gear are up or down.
I called tower up and told them exactly what my situation was. The controller then gave me a vector for the downwind. Fearing a burnt out bulb, I tried switching the bulb for the right main and left main gear down indicators, but the left light still wouldn't work with a different bulb. There was one last solution: Pull the emergency gear extension knob. I slowed the airplane to 100 mph IAS (specified in the POH to avoid damage to the nose gear), pulled the knob and *PLUNK*, I got a green light on the left main!!! I told the tower that I did have all three gear down and that landing shouldn't be a problem. They cleared me for the ILS and broke out at about 700-800 AGL. I made the approach with no flaps and held the plane off the ground as long as possible, with my fingers ready on the mags and fuel selectors just in case.
It was a huge feeling of relief when I felt the left side of the airplane stay off the ground....I made the second turnoff and taxiied back to the tiedowns, follwed closely by an entourage of firetrucks and air ops vehicles. After shutdown, the firemen got some basic information on the aircraft. The air ops guys congratulated me on handling the situation well, and one even offered to split some multi time with me if I was interested.
Anyone else had similiar landing gear problems in piper aircraft? Any idea what could've gone wrong with the gear? The mechanic hasn't taken a look yet. I inspected the landing gear during the preflight and everything looked ok. I wonder what would cause just the left main to fail to extend.....
At this point I was well into the soup and realized I was going to need to return to the airport. I called tower and told them I needed to return. The controller gave me a vector. I leveled off at 3000 and realized I was going to need to keep my speed below 120 mph (max gear extended speed). I found the right power setting for that, and decided to go ahead and see what happened when I moved the gear lever to the "down" position. I felt and heard the hydraulic pump working and felt a slight thud as (at least one) of the main gear locked into place.
Problem: I recieved a green gear down light on my nose gear and right main, but the left main gear indicator would not illuminate. I have no way of visually confirming weather the main gear are up or down.
I called tower up and told them exactly what my situation was. The controller then gave me a vector for the downwind. Fearing a burnt out bulb, I tried switching the bulb for the right main and left main gear down indicators, but the left light still wouldn't work with a different bulb. There was one last solution: Pull the emergency gear extension knob. I slowed the airplane to 100 mph IAS (specified in the POH to avoid damage to the nose gear), pulled the knob and *PLUNK*, I got a green light on the left main!!! I told the tower that I did have all three gear down and that landing shouldn't be a problem. They cleared me for the ILS and broke out at about 700-800 AGL. I made the approach with no flaps and held the plane off the ground as long as possible, with my fingers ready on the mags and fuel selectors just in case.
It was a huge feeling of relief when I felt the left side of the airplane stay off the ground....I made the second turnoff and taxiied back to the tiedowns, follwed closely by an entourage of firetrucks and air ops vehicles. After shutdown, the firemen got some basic information on the aircraft. The air ops guys congratulated me on handling the situation well, and one even offered to split some multi time with me if I was interested.
Anyone else had similiar landing gear problems in piper aircraft? Any idea what could've gone wrong with the gear? The mechanic hasn't taken a look yet. I inspected the landing gear during the preflight and everything looked ok. I wonder what would cause just the left main to fail to extend.....