Service difficulty report · Wire · Piper PA31350

Difficulty date
September 4, 2011
Submitted
January 23, 2013
Operation
Air carrier
Make and model
Piper PA31350
Aircraft time
6,838 hours
Engine
Lyc TIO540J2BD
Propeller
Hartzl HCC4YR2
Part
Wire
Condition
Broken
Location
Landing Gear
Part time
6,800 hours
Stage of operation
AP
How discovered
O
Nature of condition
J
Precautionary procedure
O

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

What was found

(CAN) PILOT PERFORMED NON-EVENT LANDING WITH NO INDICATION OF THE NOSE GEAR DOWN AND LOCKED. ON APPROACH, THE PILOT SELECTED GEAR DOWN, WITH ONLY TWO MAIN GEARS DOWN AND LOCK INDICATION (2 GREEN LIGHTS). THE NOSE GEAR DOWN AND LOCK GREEN LIGHT DID NOT ILLUMINATE, IN-TRANSIT LIGHT REMAINED ILLUMINATED, AND THE LANDING GEAR HANDLE DID NOT RETURN TO NEUTRAL. THIS ACFT IS FITTED WITH A MIRROR ON THE LT SIDE NACELLE, AND THE PILOT COULD SEE THE GEAR WAS DOWN HOWEVER COULD NOT CONFIRM LOCKED. THE PILOT TRIED CYCLING THE GEAR AND COULD NEVER GET THE NOSE GEAR DOWN AND LOCK INDICATION TO ILLUMINATE. THE PILOT ALSO DID AN EMERGENCY GEAR EXTENSION WITH THE HAND PUMP WITH NO SUCCESS. THE PILOT WAS FORCED TO LAND THE ACFT WITH NO DOWN AND LOCK INDICATION FOR THE NOSE. THE LANDING WAS A NON-EVENT. HOWEVER, THE NOSE DOWN AND LOCK LIGHT ILLUMINATED THE INSTANCE THE NOSE TOUCHED THE RUNWAY (IN-TRANSIT LIGHT WENT "OUT" AND HANDLE RETURNED TO NEUTRAL). THE ACFT WAS PLACED ON JACKS AND THE NLG SYS INSPECTED. DETAIL INSPECTION OF THE NOSE GEAR DOWN AND LOCKED SWITCH REVEALED A BROKEN WIRE AT CONNECTOR E346 WIRE C72FC PIN9. THIS WIRE PROVIDES INPUT TO THE HYD POWER PACK FROM THE NOSE GEAR DOWN AND LOCK SWITCH. THE WIRE WAS REPAIRED, LANDING GEAR SYS FUNCTION CHECKED, AND ACFT RETURNED TO SERVICE.

More about the Piper PA-31-350