[cessna02337]

Well, being new to the O2/337 community, I thought I would tell the group about a problem I encountered, hoping others may learn from my event.

I noticed my gear handle would not automatically move to the neutral position after gear retraction (I assume the gear system is the same on both O2s and 337s). My short-term fix was to manually move it to the neutral position shortly after takeoff. It was on my short list to get adjusted/looked at. No other issues or problems would be observed with the system (gear retracted/extended fine, doors closed, proper lights, etc).

Well, today I went to move the gear handle to the neutral position shortly after takeoff and it would not move. I tried everything and it still would not move. I scanned the emergency checklists and there seems to be no checklist item for this failure.

After careful review, if the gear handle does not move to the down position, pumping the manual extension, pulling breakers; cycling the battery (or anything else you could think of); is not going to do anything as the manual extension is not going to work without the gear handle in the down position.

After a quick call to an O2 expert thanks to SWF Tower, I was given good guidance to remove the vent duct on the lower left side to gain better access to the underside of the instrument panel. I pushed and pulled on a the 1/4 medal tube/cable behind the panel (close to the gear handle) to free the handle (a combination of pushing up seemed to make it finally free). This sounds quick but took me close to 30+ minutes of trying, lucky it was a nice VFR day.

Gear came down with normal indications and I elected to fly with it down to home base and wait further maintenance discovery.

I have come as close as one could get from a gear-up landing....too close for me.