1967 PA-28R-180
On a flight back to my home base some months ago, on climb out, I put the gear selector switch to the UP position but with no retraction. I cycled the switch several times with no retraction of the gear.
We weren't far from home, so I decided to simply fly with three giant air brakes hanging underneath us.
Still, my curiosity wouldn't let me just let it go and so I gave the controls to my friend, pulled out the POH and attempted to troubleshoot as we went home.
Long story short, I deduced that the aircraft 'thought' we were still on the ground (not moving) and would not allow the gear to come up while it was sitting on the ground. Fair enough.
Once I arrived home, did a quick once over in the wheel wells to confirm that nothing was physically preventing or blocking the gear from retracting. Didn't see anything.
The next day, I stopped by the FBO to write up the issue, what happened and WHAT I DEDUCED COULD BE THE PROBLEM (i.e. "there seems to be something wrong with whatever sensor there is that would make the plane think its on the ground").
About a week later, the FBO owner called to tell me that they found the problem. A mud dauber bee had blocked the Pitot tube (located on the fuselage) which controls the emergency gear extension system ('the sensor' that I deduced was the problem over a week prior). GREAT! My troubleshooting was correct!! Small victory for a guy new to plane ownership.
That weekend, I stopped by the FBO to pay my invoice for the work the mech did (cleaning out the pitot). My estimate was (@$90/hr) perhaps about 250 bucks.
Nope. The FBO hit me for $1,200 dollars for over 9 hours of labor and some shop consumables. It took NINE HOURS for the mechanic to fix what I figured out while in flight and during the event in 15 minutes. I SPECIFICALLY told him to check the 'sensor' but he ignored this.
Adding insult to yet further potential injury, he showed me that all three landing gear had too much play in them and all three needed to be disassembled and reassembled to fix. He also went on to say that I shouldn't fly it any more until this had been fixed, so serious was this newly discovered problem.
Naturally suspicious now I took it out for a second opinion. This other mechanic (and independent) confirmed that the nose wheel had too much play in it for sure, but the mains were fine!!!
Suffice it to say, I recovered my logs and keys from the FBO, they will never work on my aircraft again.
How do you like that for my first post to the forum?
Thanks much and very glad to have found you guys!
Cheers from Oregon...
Rob
On a flight back to my home base some months ago, on climb out, I put the gear selector switch to the UP position but with no retraction. I cycled the switch several times with no retraction of the gear.
We weren't far from home, so I decided to simply fly with three giant air brakes hanging underneath us.
Still, my curiosity wouldn't let me just let it go and so I gave the controls to my friend, pulled out the POH and attempted to troubleshoot as we went home.
Long story short, I deduced that the aircraft 'thought' we were still on the ground (not moving) and would not allow the gear to come up while it was sitting on the ground. Fair enough.
Once I arrived home, did a quick once over in the wheel wells to confirm that nothing was physically preventing or blocking the gear from retracting. Didn't see anything.
The next day, I stopped by the FBO to write up the issue, what happened and WHAT I DEDUCED COULD BE THE PROBLEM (i.e. "there seems to be something wrong with whatever sensor there is that would make the plane think its on the ground").
About a week later, the FBO owner called to tell me that they found the problem. A mud dauber bee had blocked the Pitot tube (located on the fuselage) which controls the emergency gear extension system ('the sensor' that I deduced was the problem over a week prior). GREAT! My troubleshooting was correct!! Small victory for a guy new to plane ownership.
That weekend, I stopped by the FBO to pay my invoice for the work the mech did (cleaning out the pitot). My estimate was (@$90/hr) perhaps about 250 bucks.
Nope. The FBO hit me for $1,200 dollars for over 9 hours of labor and some shop consumables. It took NINE HOURS for the mechanic to fix what I figured out while in flight and during the event in 15 minutes. I SPECIFICALLY told him to check the 'sensor' but he ignored this.
Adding insult to yet further potential injury, he showed me that all three landing gear had too much play in them and all three needed to be disassembled and reassembled to fix. He also went on to say that I shouldn't fly it any more until this had been fixed, so serious was this newly discovered problem.
Naturally suspicious now I took it out for a second opinion. This other mechanic (and independent) confirmed that the nose wheel had too much play in it for sure, but the mains were fine!!!
Suffice it to say, I recovered my logs and keys from the FBO, they will never work on my aircraft again.
How do you like that for my first post to the forum?
Thanks much and very glad to have found you guys!
Cheers from Oregon...
Rob
