Worked as Advertised

[Jamesdub]

Yesterday I was practicing short field work at a handful of local strips. Most of which are pretty barren and lacking the maintenance that you normally see at Muni fields. Anyway I was fortunate that this happened at the last hop prior to RTB but I picked up a bit of FOD on/in my front tire. On round-out at home field I experienced a shimmy like never before. Front tire was flat, immediately knew something was not right so I maintained rear pressure on the yoke until the plane stopped. Opened the door and leaned out and as expected, flat front gear.

What I'm extremely pleased with in this situation is that the front strut (even with a flat tire) maintained enough clearance that the big Hartzell didn't contact that surface. Temporally swapped out a nose gear with a buddies Cessna to get me back to the hangar. Later found an inch of .32 safety wire imbedded in the thread.

 

[Wampler]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Interesting. I once had a buddy in a Bo who landed at a local airport with a flat nose tire. When they took the tire off there was a bullet hole through it.

 

[Frank]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Palo Alto?

 

[todd92]

Re: Worked as Advertised

I thought there was a certification requirement that says the prop must have x ground clearance with the front tire flat and the strut bottomed?

 

[Jamesdub]

Re: Worked as Advertised

I thought there was a certification requirement that says the prop must have x ground clearance with the front tire flat and the strut bottomed?

Roger that Todd,

What I was initially sharing, 'Worked as Advertised'.
Though I never wanted to test it.
Went with a new setup after running on the flat.

 

[Wampler]

Re: Worked as Advertised

No, Indy.

 

[N4843W]

Re: Worked as Advertised

No, Indy.

I grew not far from Indy ... I am not surprised! But it has become a helluva nice city over the past 25 years.

 

[Wampler]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Like other big cities, between gangs, and other groups a lot of people are heading for the outskirts.
The incident I mentioned was at Speedway airport a number of years ago.

 

[alim]

Re: Worked as Advertised

I found my plane today sitting nose low - having lost Ni and sitting on the hydraulic cushion.
Even though it had 2 fingers worth of hydraulic cushion, i wasn't sure if i wanted to start up with less than 6" prop clearance.


I understand when the o-ring fails and you lose fluid due to dirt and grime - but do we know why air (ni) loss ? I haven't flown since December and i consider this "sudden". I lost out on a nice day today (mech svcs are hard on sunday).

Do we have a recommendation on a Nitrogen bottle and regulator (or any 2 stage 3K psi will do) ? I have jacks (obtained after last years landing gear troubleshooting saga).

Want to be more in control next time ..

 

[alandotson]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Just resealed my nose strut with the help of "Joel's Mobile MX Service". But I had some fluid loss, too. If you didn't have any fluid out the bottom, I would check Schrader valve and install new core and cap, first. If you lose pressure again, then plan to change seals and wiper...

Any welding supply house can set you up with a bottle (either buy or rent) and nitrogen regulator. You'll also need high pressure hose and fittings. My bottle is about 2.5 ft high and max pressure is 1800 psi; you don't need full size bottle and 3000 psi! That's plenty for anything you want to do on a Commander. Probably $200-300 to get set up?

Good luck...
Alan

 

[Frank]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Alan if you can - snap a picture and post -it would be great to see what you are using.

 

[alim]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Mech was able to reach right through the gear doors and get to the top of the strut without any difficulty. Gave it a burst of Ni and it came right up. Final resting pressure was about 120 psi - per book spec - which made the airplane more or less level.

Thank you for the note alan. Given how trivial it was, i 'll just keep a bottle in the hangar.

 

[alandotson]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Alan if you can - snap a picture and post -it would be great to see what you are using.

Here's a couple of pictures of my regulator, hose and fittings. These bottles have a standard CGA-580 port; hence the regulator has to mate to that. My regulator is a Victor 250 series, which is just what the local welding shop happened to have. As I remember, I paid a little over $100 for the regulator, but would bet it could be found cheaper. Or any comparable brand will work. Just don't cheap out too much as you want safety at 500 psi... I found a local shop which could make up high pressure hose; they need an industrial crimper. I use a quick-disconnect on the hose when working with lower pressures (less the 150 or so), but remove it and install a gooseneck adapter when servicing high pressure (main struts).

Alan

 

[Commander91gm]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Boy does that look familiar .

 

[alandotson]

Re: Worked as Advertised

How's the MOBILE MX business going; any new clients?

 

[Planecents]

Re: Worked as Advertised

Here is a picture of my regulator. I used the high pressure cloth covered hose as it was quite a bit cheaper. My cart looks just like Alan's which I got at Harbor Freight. I do have the full size bottle, but it will outlast me probably.