- Joined
- Mar 14, 2019
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There is a lot of past discussion on landing gear issues with our Piper retracts. I've read through a lot of it & have not found my particular problem. Sorry if this has already been discussed.
Took off yesterday in my '79 Turbo Lance and the gear retracted normally. About 20 minutes into cruise flight the red gear unsafe light came on & stayed on steady. There was no indication that the gear had not remained fully retracted as there was no change in speed or flight characteristics. I slowed down & selected gear down & the gear came down normally---3 green, gear unsafe light off. I then selected gear up and the gear did not move. Still three green, gear unsafe light off and pump not running. Moved the gear selector back to down and then tried gear up again. Same result. I decide to play it safe, since I had 3 greens, and headed for home, gear down, with an uneventful landing.
Got the plane up on jacks today and inspected all the switches & the wires to the switches & found nothing obviously out of order. Engaged the gear override and swung the gear a couple of times with all operating as it should. Next we disconnected the gear doors and retracted the gear and with the gear up yanked & pushed & shoved on each of the three gear but did not get even a flicker from the gear unsafe light.
The plane is still up on jacks with the gear retracted and we'll be back on it tomorrow. Want to see if there is any sagging overnight. Any thought and ideas on what might be going on here will be very helpful & much appreciated. Thanks!
David
Took off yesterday in my '79 Turbo Lance and the gear retracted normally. About 20 minutes into cruise flight the red gear unsafe light came on & stayed on steady. There was no indication that the gear had not remained fully retracted as there was no change in speed or flight characteristics. I slowed down & selected gear down & the gear came down normally---3 green, gear unsafe light off. I then selected gear up and the gear did not move. Still three green, gear unsafe light off and pump not running. Moved the gear selector back to down and then tried gear up again. Same result. I decide to play it safe, since I had 3 greens, and headed for home, gear down, with an uneventful landing.
Got the plane up on jacks today and inspected all the switches & the wires to the switches & found nothing obviously out of order. Engaged the gear override and swung the gear a couple of times with all operating as it should. Next we disconnected the gear doors and retracted the gear and with the gear up yanked & pushed & shoved on each of the three gear but did not get even a flicker from the gear unsafe light.
The plane is still up on jacks with the gear retracted and we'll be back on it tomorrow. Want to see if there is any sagging overnight. Any thought and ideas on what might be going on here will be very helpful & much appreciated. Thanks!
David