Landing Gear Stuck Up
 

In 1998, we had a bird being ferried commercially. Pilot could not get gear to lower. CB popped repeatedly. Wouldn't pump. Landed gear up. Stuck shuttle. Two replacements failed in retraction/lowering tests, but broke free when Pwr Pak was rapped sharply. I had one do the same after 1450 nm St. Johns to Santa Maria, Azores. Handle down, breaker popped. Handle up, CB left out, wouldn't pump. Rapped Prw Pak with Leatherman, tried again--ok. Recently another crew had same occurrence. Rapping didn't shake the shuttle loose. Mech on ground radio'd to remove lower shroud; cut safety wire to right hand (gear UP/DOWN solenoid); loosen solenoid from hyd assy one turn. It worked. (Crew didn't have pliers large enough to grip solenoid body, so used the end of the control lock as a drift and pounded it with Leatherman against the screws on top of the solenoid body and got it to turn. Comments from the field?

John Piowaty

Good to know. I'm copying your text and gluing it into my POH in the section about stuck gear. In the air, all is fair -- especially if it works.

However, what doesn't make sense is that the emergency hand pump wouldn't work. Clearly, there was ample fluid. Could you have had two problems, a misbehaving powerpack and a faulty emergency hand pump?

Ernie

Ernie,

The system was locked up by the shuttle being stuck and allowing no hyd fluid flow with electric or hand pump. At least that's the theory. Slight loosening of the solenoid on top of the shuttle valve body released pressure to allow shuttle to move to correct position. Theory only, but it worked. Looking for someone who can really explain it.

John

I would take the solenoids off and remove the three screws on top, remove the plunger and clean it. I think you will find hyd. fluid has seeped into it and has gotten gummy. Clean everything off with solvent. This should help
Kim

Roger that, Kim. thanks for the reply. This was an in-flight fix that worked. John