Turbo Arrow IV gear issue

Sseely

Hey Gang-
Just trying to get info to everyone…in cruise i heard a loud bang followed by a unsafe gear light in our TArrow IV. Slowed airplane down & put gear handle Down. Only got 2 green. Did emergency checklists, emergency gear extension & still got the same results. Called plane partner to come up to AP. We went through POH & Maintenance Manual to try to come up with a solution. Had full fuel so no rush. Contacted A&P to see if he could think of anything. I yawed your try to shake it down, did all we could think of. 3 low passes to get 2nd opinions, etc. Called CFR and waited until they got in place and set up for the approach. It was severe clear so no weather issues except for a little gust. After 3+ hours touched down, pulled mixture & gear stayed down:) attached are pictures. There is an old SB & AD, (SB 724A AD 82-06-11) have your A&P’s check on next annual or 100hr. we got lucky…

MikeJJ

Wow! Lucky indeed!!

Fgump52

I'm going to go hug my plane now

griff390

Sseely;

Great job getting the plane, yourself, and your passengers down safely.

Those are some scary pics. Well done.

empannin

Great job - thanks for sharing. After you landed did you stay on the runway or taxi off? Must have been a shock to see that crack!

Scott Sherer

My palms are sweaty just looking at those pics. While you're at it, go buy yourself a lottery ticket!

Sseely

Lol, Thanks Gang:) All was good. We grabbed a few hose clamps & a wrench and stabilized the gear brace and then got the plane towed off the runway and back to the hanger. Looking back just happy it was me & not one of the kids flying it! It was one of the longest rollouts I’ve ever had, i didn’t want to touch the brakes and just let it roll to a stop…Also gave me a new confidence in the gear, it did exactly what it was supposed to do after it loses hydraulic pressure & “fails” down. If the down spring broke it would have ended differently. The spring forces the gear down over the center lock and is probably what held it in place. Both the AD’s & SB were complied with in 1982, however the actuator was replaced twice so we should find out in the next couple of days when our A&P pulls the actuator off if it has the spacer installed as the part II of the AD specifies. Our theory is the gear pump was constantly running and was constantly pushing 1400PSI on the gear brace & it finally gave way. I’ll post the update as we find out…

empannin

Thanks for sharing the details. The Piper gear system is well designed overall but one miss was not including a yellow panel light for "Hydraulic pump on". There are a number of failure modes where this would help and there is not a great way of telling otherwise with the noise from the plane.

djspathis

Would adding a panel light for the 'pump on' circuit be considered a minor alteration?

Scott Sherer

I would think so. Go for it. Then tell us what you did so I can do it too.