I can attest the usage of the emergency gear extension procedure as I did this 'just for fun' together with JC (Lancair Test Pilot working together with Fibercraft).
It is so easy 'even a caveman can do this ' LOL No pumps, no sticks, no prayers, just 2 simple knobs, 1 for the main gear and 1 for the nose gear, very very simple.
== Ronald (>50 hours, waiting for his plane to come back with new avionics (GTN750 (with new Garmin audio panel and weather) , auto trim (pitch), Dynon Backup EFIS)
Mr. Paczkowski,
We have installed an emergency blow down accumulator in almost all of our customers IV's. They aren't light but are a much easier and faster way to get the gear down. When retrofitted to a flying IV we typically install the piston accumulator on the back of the spar box. Then we use two stainless steel ball valves mounted between the seats to operate the system, one on the forward spar box flange and the other on the aft. The forward valve releases the pressure holding the gear in the up position. The aft valve releases the fluid pressurized in the piston accumulator to the emergency side of the shuttle valve. When the valves are shut and the system is recharged in the down position the shuttle valve returns to its normal position and the accumulator will recharge during the next gear up cycle. We have had great success with this system and our customers even practice emergency blow downs in flight since it is completely reset each time without servicing.
Matthew
Fibercraft Inc.
On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 4:42 AM, Nicholas Paczkowski
<npaczkowski@telus.net> wrote:
Perhaps a dumb question (apologies in advance) but Is there a better alternative available to the manually operated hydraulic 'gear down' lever (such as a charged gas bottle) that would eliminate both the awkward lever and the seemingly inevitable leaking of hydraulic fluid? Thanks.