Leveled off at 7000' this morning and as I was accelerating, the nose gear popped out (with the associated noise from ~140 kt extension) along with the red UNSAFE light and a subsequent green nose gear light.
I put the other wheels down (three green, no red) and returned to the airport. What we found was surprising (to me). The rod end bearing for the actuator had broken almost exactly in half, so it was a half moon shape. The system worked exactly like it was supposed to once there was nothing holding the gear up, but I don't have a clue why it broke either the way it did, or when it did.
The actuator arm isn't twisted, there's no obstructions, and it didn't occur until ~10 minutes after the gear was retracted. Other than a bad part (it was almost brand new) anybody seen this before or have any ideas? My A&P/IA has 30+ years of experience and is scratching his head on this one. He has a replacement rod end so he'll be threading that on and doing some gear swings this afternoon (he fortunately works Saturdays).
Last bit of info, it's a LoPresti cowl. Don't know if that would play into this particular failure at all, but just in case someone has seen this before...
Thanks,
Ryan
I put the other wheels down (three green, no red) and returned to the airport. What we found was surprising (to me). The rod end bearing for the actuator had broken almost exactly in half, so it was a half moon shape. The system worked exactly like it was supposed to once there was nothing holding the gear up, but I don't have a clue why it broke either the way it did, or when it did.
The actuator arm isn't twisted, there's no obstructions, and it didn't occur until ~10 minutes after the gear was retracted. Other than a bad part (it was almost brand new) anybody seen this before or have any ideas? My A&P/IA has 30+ years of experience and is scratching his head on this one. He has a replacement rod end so he'll be threading that on and doing some gear swings this afternoon (he fortunately works Saturdays).
Last bit of info, it's a LoPresti cowl. Don't know if that would play into this particular failure at all, but just in case someone has seen this before...
Thanks,
Ryan
