Comanche gear collapse just waiting for an opportunity.

Well here's the latest, check the video of this Comanche PA24-260. It has a bent landing gear push-pull control, aka conduit. That condition allows undesired freedom of movement in the main gear drag links which need to be "down and locked" for gear security - this one is definitely not.
I would bet the owner is unaware, thinking I just had my gear worked on so it must be OK. Also look at the poor condition of the landing gear wiring harness.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Piper
• Comanche
• Airplane
• Aircraft
• PA24
• PA30
• PA39
• airplane

[andor8635]

Thanks for posting this video. It will help me when I do my annual on my Camanche 260. I seen the amps test on the gear motor video it was great too. I find lot's of I&A don't really know comanche airplanes as much as I do. Andor A Koval

[nottready]

It is of great advantage to use a specialist in any field, and one who will be straight-forward with the analysis. Another issue that comes into play at some point is the financial one; that issue can cloud the solution. Whistle if I can be of any help. Matt

[nottready]

Hi John: I think the 450 pound gorilla is a viable guess. The question then arises, when and where did the gorilla exit the gear well, over Florida or the Seattle area. Seriously, a columnar load could have done it but the pre-load would have to have been very poorly understood by the A&P to allow that loose condition. Then a lousy cross-wind landing with a bunch of sudden side load. Maybe the owner can shed some light on it, if he contacts me. It "baffles" me. Matt

[piper1487]

Matt:  What do you think caused the bend?

John R. Seattle

[nottready]

I saw another bent push-pull cable last spring near ELP. The owner's response to my discovery, "Why didn't the IA spot that?". I installed a new set of Webco's Teflon-lined push-pull cables. Matt

[ecktoeman]

Please keep up the video posts - these are difficult issues to explain with just text! If a picture is worth a thousand words then these videos are worth a million.

Great for the fleet, great airplane, let's keep 'em flying!

[ecktoeman]

Thank you for posting on the web. I've got a lot of dual-given in Comanches yet this is the real achiles heel of the design. A sloppy mechanic can let this get by on inspections and then the linkage is left not firmly over-center even though it's indicating down & 'green'.