May 26, 2013 events of Lancair N471LA Nose gear failure at F45

Submitted by Paul A. Hershorin

     On Sunday morning at about 9:30 a.m. my wife Pat and I, after doing our preflight inspection and engine checks, took off from F45 (North Palm Beach Air Park) to fly to Florida Keys Marathon (MTH) for lunch.  Upon lift off we had 22 gallons of fuel on board for a 40 minute flight.  We climbed to 8,500 feet VFR, I set up the plane on a fuel burn of 8.4 gallons per hour and we indicated 240 miles per hour.  It was a beautiful flight without any problems.  We landed, parked the plane and went into the FBO signed in and went to Burdines for lunch which was most enjoyable.

 After lunch, we returned to the FBO, visited the EAA museum and then Pat rested in the FBO while I moved the plane to the fuel pump. To move the plane to the gas pump I used my tow bar.  I did not see any oil or hydraulic fluid on the ground by the nose wheel or on the nose strut at this time.   The plane took 26.35 gallons of fuel and then I did my preflight inspection.  There were not any preflight problems.  We taxied to runway 07, did the engine checks, announced that we were taking active runway 07 and will be departing to the north.  Upon lift off I raised the gear lever and flap switch and immediately noticed no gear lights showing up or down.  I told my wife there was a problem—no lights and the plane was not accelerating—I could tell that the gear had not retracted.  I announced to MTH that we had no lights indicating the position of the landing gear and that I was going to circle and do a low pass over runway 07—could someone tell me the position of the gear.  First pass I was told that it was “UP”, however, with the drag on the plane I said that I would make a second pass—this time there was a helicopter watching that said the gear was “down”  I tried to recycle the gear without any luck.  I told my wife that we would fly to our home base F45 along the coast.

 About 15 or 20 miles out of MTH we had a warning light telling us that the “volts”  was in the yellow range—my hydraulic pump light indicator was on so I pulled the 50amp breaker—the “volts” went from 9 back up to 13-14.  It was a slow flight at 143 kts. at 2,000 feet looking out for many planes and staying out of Miami and then Ft Lauderdale air space. 

When we reached Boca I called Palm Beach tower and told them the problem that I was having and asked if I could do a tower fly by  and if they could tell if the gear was locked down.  On the first pass I was too low for the tower to be able to tell if the gear was locked in or not so I was asked to come around again but higher this time.  I came around at about 250 feet and the tower said that they thought it may be locked in place but they had no way of knowing.  I asked to go to my home base at F45 and they vectored me on course. 

Here is the problem—to lock in the main gear I did side movers to catch the wind on the gear doors that are attached to the gear, this locked them in, however the nose gear free falls from the up position being pushed by a gas strut—no way of knowing if it was in position or not.  I announced a right hand down wind for runway 08R at F45, announced a right base and then final 08R full stop—somewhere in the discussion or Palm Beach tower announced to F45 I was having gear problems—on final I told Pat to remove her glasses in case she might hit the dash, said that on touchdown I was going to pull the fuel all the way out, turn off the ignition and three master switches which I did—landed on the mains and held it off as long as I could and then it settled on the props shattering all three blades and the plane came to a stop a 1,000 feet down the runway.   Pat and I looked at each other, I climbed out of the plane and saw people running from the FBO and individuals on golf carts coming to our aid, I helped Pat out with bystander help—the sheriff dept. arrived in two to three minutes and the fire dept arrived in about 10 to 15 minutes.  Neither Pat or I were hurt, in fact it was a very smooth landing and stop. 

 A fork truck was brought out and I connected a tow rope to two blades of the propeller, the fork lift lifted the nose of the plane and we pulled the nose gear into position and strapped it to the two bottom propeller blades pulling the gear forward.  The FBO sent out their airplane tow and they towed the plane to my hangar. While, waiting for the plane to be raised the sheriff did his report, fire department did their report and I received a call from the FAA stating that it was “OK” to move the plane from the runway and I would be contacted this week by the FAA.

Upon inspection of the nose gear by an IA, A&P it was found that the nose gear door hydraulic hose fitting, aluminum, sheared off at the actuator.  This must have happened upon lift off when I moved the gear switch to retract the landing gear and pumped all the hydraulic fluid overboard and released the load on the nose gear.  I tried many maneuvers, but could not get the nose gear to lock in.

Once again, I want to state that neither Pat nor I were injured and want to thank all the individuals from MTH to F45 for their assistance and help.

Submitted by Paul A. Hershorin   5/29/13