Landing gear doors won't close

[hharney]

Originally Posted by Kim Geyer

There is a switch mounted on the bottom aft of the power pack. if you follow the linkage from the landing gear handle to the power pack is mounted on the outboard side of the power pack where the shaft goes through. it operates the doors to closed when the handle is in the neutral position. at least that where it is on our 337E
Kim

No Kim that wasn't the problem in this issue. I looked over the schematics and I think you are referring to the DOOR SOLENOID. I have never had any issues with this valve or switch.

[hharney]

When I returned to the shop after finding the wire loose on the up lock switch, main gear, right side, we were baffled that the new connectors didn't fix the problem. We decided not to put it back on jacks but to ohm out the up lock switches on the mains and the nose. While testing the nose we did not have continuity on the nose gear switch. I could not believe this. Finding a loose wire on the right main and now the nose switch wasn't working????? Ok off with the nose gear up lock switch and sure enough there was a broken wire. Now I am questioning which wire was the culprit.

After repairing the nose gear switch I took her to the air again and NO WAY!!!! the doors still did not close, how could this be happening. I landed and taxied back to the shop with pure discouragement. We put the plane back on the jacks and retracted the gear and started testing the switches again. Come to find out the new connectors that were installed were defective. One of them was not making contact. It was so crazy. We changed both the connectors with new connectors from another batch and off to the air again. It worked, the doors closed. These wires and components on these 50 + year old airplanes are starting to fail and we need to be ready to start getting proactive with inspecting closer. I was never in a gear up landing issue but it could happen the other way.

[JAG]

Herb,
I am pleased to hear you found the culprit. I don't mean to call you out, but maybe as a reminder to all of us, that it is best practice to perform a gear swing after any gear maintenance that could affect the operation, indication or function of the gear. I am not sure what the Cessna manuals say - but I follow a simple rule; always perform landing gear tests (gear swing) in the hangar after such maintenance, especially when at a maintenance base. It not only ensures you fixed the problem, but in most cases can also reduce any in-flight turn backs or cancelled trips. I know, some problems can't be detected on the ground - but if we use Herb's case as an example - the problem most likely would have shown itself if they had tested the landing gear after initially fixing the first main gear switch wire.

Trust that you have found the problem, but don't forget to verify. This is true for all systems.

Side story - the other day, a friend of ours called me thinking she heard someone in her house in the night (she distinctly heard some one striking some piano keys). She was pretty shaken up. I went home with her and checked the entire house, inside and out. No signs of entry, everything looked secure, so we chalked it up to something strange with the electronic system on the player piano, and unplugged it. Besides, she had the house alarm armed the whole time. I went to leave from the front door (we had entered through the garage) and as I went to close the door, there was her house key still in the lock on the outside! Wow - she forgot it when she walked the dog the night before. Well, maybe this is just a freaky coincidence...the alarm was set, right? Right. "Trust, but verify". Let's test the alarm before I go - and guess what - all entry points in the house would set the alarm off...except the front door.

Trust, but verify.

Jeff

[hharney]

In order to test the gear on jacks I would have had to remove the hydraulic pump. Wasn't going to do that for this exercise unless the problem could not be found. I was departing for NYC the next morning so removing the pump was not in the agenda. I did use the hand pump for the last chase in this exercise but normally do not like to use the hand E pump for retraction. The gear pump removal and remount can take up to 4 hours. Just didn't have the time to do this for this type issue.