Service difficulty report · Landing Gear · Cessna 401B

Difficulty date
March 8, 2012
Submitted
May 4, 2012
Operation
General aviation
Aircraft
N44349
Make and model
Cessna 401B
Aircraft serial
401B0049
Part
Landing Gear
Condition
Collapsed
Location
Nose
Stage of operation
IN
How discovered
V
Nature of condition
O
Precautionary procedure
K

As reported to the FAA. Reports are unverified, and codes are left as the FAA publishes them.

What was found

ACFT LANDED & NLG COLLAPSED. NLG REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN OPERATED FOR A PERIOD OF TIME WITH A DEFLATED NOSE STRUT. STRUT SERVICED, ALSO REPORTED NLG HAD BEEN SUBJECT TO ROUGH OPERATION, OPERATED IN & OUT OF A GRASS AIRSTRIPS. NLG EXTENDED & RETRACTED USING ELECTRIC & MANUAL SYS. BOTH TIMES GEAR WOULD COME WITHIN .5" OF FULL DOWN TRAVEL. DETERMINED THAT EXTENSIVE DAMAGE HAD OCCURRED TO THE NLG EXTENSION SYS FROM COLLAPSE. APPEARED THAT THERE WAS EXCESSIVE PLAY IN ASSOCIATED RODS, BELL CRANKS, & BUSHINGS IN NLG DOWN SYS. DUE TO EXCESSIVE WEAR. IT APPEARS AS THOUGH DOWN SYS BECAME WORN & OUT OF RIG, PREVENTING FULL DOWN ACTUATION OF NLG ACTUATING ROD. NLG SYS ALSO APPEARED TO BE DRY OF LUBRICATION.

More about the Cessna 401B