Posted for "Robert Pastusek" <rpastusek@htii.com>:

Laurie,

First of all, a very nice job of taking care of this emergency! Also, thanks
so much for the report to the rest of us. As you note, these things always
provide useful information, and this one caused me to think again about my
own airplane. Most of my IV-P electrical system is protected with fuses; the
alternators and hydraulic pump being the exceptions, and with the CB's for
these made very readily accessible for just the situation you encountered.
My concern is that you didn't have sufficient hydraulic fluid to lower/lock
the gear with the manual pump. I determined during construction that the
pickup tube for the manual pump extended lower in the tank than the electric
pump pickup, and just let it go at that. I did not test this at all.

If you have any thoughts about why you didn't have enough fluid left to use
the backup system, I'd be most appreciative. Could the pitch attitude of the
aircraft had an effect? Other thoughts? Based on your experience, I'm
thinking of draining down my system through the electric pump and then
trying the manual pump. Like I said, I took this one on faith of the
designer and did not test it, although it would have been easy to do during
build.

Again, nice job landing the aircraft, and I'm happy you sustained minimal
damage in the process. Thanks especially for your comprehensive report. If
you find more, especially about why the emergency pump didn't work, we'd all
appreciate hearing.

Bob Pastusek

For LOBO