Gang,

First, let me say I'm sorry I didn't get to mingle and meet more of you at OSH.  I was only there from Thursday on and between staying in Manitowoc and all the airshow briefings I didn't even have any time to walk the aisles or visit my beloved Fly Mart!  <sigh>  It was cool to see so many Lancairs there, however.

It's almost exactly 1500 NM from CNO to OSH....I made it there in almost exactly 8 hours of flying and burned 92 gallons.  Don't think I could have gone commercially as cheap or fast from point to point, wait, I KNOW I couldn't!

It wasn't without it's issues, however.  Seems as though I have a Minihuni in my gear system.  For whatever reason the Left main gear is reluctant to retract.  The first time it happened I was flying over to OSH from MTW with 3 Yaks.  I had my left main confirmed down by flight lead (no indications in the cockpit...lights out, etc....but increased noise, yaw, and obviously decreased speed for the power) and put the gear back down.  Three green lights was good enough for me, so I flew the 20 nm with the gear down (Dash One flashbacks) and arrived at OSH safely, if not a bit less than stylish.  ;)

Everything checked normal externally on the ground.  After a few discussions with folks more knowledgeable than I in Legacies (thanks Dave M and a few of the folks at Lancair!), I decided to launch for home with the Yaks on Sunday and see what happened with the gear.  That gave me several options and, of course, the gear came up just fine.  I decided to stay with a few buddies at least through lunch...and a 60 KIAS advantage has it's benefits on a cross country gaggle... ;)

Wheels up after the next stop was just fine, again, the left main being a bit slower than normal to retract, but confirmed solid and tight in the well by another in the flight.  The afternoon fuel stop wheels up wasn't so smooth.  The left main again hung, and confident this time I didn't have a mechanical blockage, I called my wingman in to check things over and observe a cycling of the gear.  This time all three came up, with the left being a bit slow.  We RON'd in Colorado Springs and the next morning we went out as a two ship....my wingman confirmed the gear came up a bit slow, but again, it did come up.  4+ hours later I was home.

Now it's time to put it up on jacks and figure out what the problem is.  So far the consensus is that there's some type of debris in the 5606 that's blocking the fluid to the actuator....any other ideas or places to check?  Again, there are no leaks and the hydraulic system is full....

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Barry