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 Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:29 am Post subject: July 2000 Article, Commander Landing Gear Control |
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Here is the CLOUD CRAFT® column I wrote for the July 2000 issue of the Flight Group News. Thought it may be of interest following the checklist discussion about using the landing gear safety pin. Wing Commander Gordon CLOUD CRAFT®
Squeeze. Flex. Slide.
Sounds like the chant off one of those aerobics videotapes, doesn’t it? Relax. We’re not going to the gym; we’re going to the airport.
From the looks of it, though, a lot of people have used the Commander landing gear control as exercise equipment. I’ve seen gear handles that are bent, warped and twisted. I’ve watched Commander pilots use all of their might – and considerable time – to lift the gear. All this effort comes from a misunderstanding.
Let’s explore the inside the landing gear control box and learn about all the subtle systems and devices built into this seemingly “no brainer” lever.
Here are the disclaimers for this issue’s column: First, this explanation will be covering the landing gear controls on models starting with the 680E (and 720), all the flat nacelle pistons and up through the 680 Turbine Commanders. Second, be very cautious if you’re going to poke around this lever and look at all the stuff I’m about to explain. It is entirely possible to lift the landing gear lever of a Commander while it’s on the ground, which could be enlightening and embarrassing, all at once.
The landing gear control box contains several subtle levels of protection. It’s these sublime methods that also make the gear lever hell to raise if you don’t know about them.
The wall on the right side of the slot that the gear lever travels in has 3 small holes bored into it. These holes accommodate “nubs” on the landing gear lever.
One of these nubs is retracted by squeezing the trigger on the landing gear handle. This trigger has a reverse scissors-like movement that retracts a pin at the end of an arm (deeper inside the box than you can see). That’s safety catch #2.
Safety catch #3 is what … catches … everyone in the beginning. The handle itself was intended to have a certain amount of spring to it and flexing the handle a small amount toward the pilot clears a second nub, fitting into a hole just inside the slot.
This is where most pilots tug, heave, grunt and swear, all due to a tiny nub wanting to be sprung out of a tiny hole. I have visited many a Commander with a gear handle permanently bowed from some tremendous, frustrated effort. Too bad, because part of a simple and elegant safety system has been defeated due to that.
Notice safety catch #1 is mentioned last. I do this because it’s patently obvious – yet its role in landing gear handle position safety is not.
Catch #1 is what I call the automatic-manual-reversionary-landing-gear-handle-safety-override-lockout-system-device. Or, if you prefer, “the bent nail that slides over the bump.”
This sophisticated systems-approach must have earned some Aero Design worker the “Employee of the Month” award. Where other aircraft brands use solenoids and landing gear squat-switches to prevent inadvertent landing gear retraction, the Commander method is from the “cheap/works good/lasts a long time” school of design. Just keep it lubricated so it can slide without being a nuisance.
My method of using this safety latch is to keep it engaged any time on the ground until taking the active runway. Part of your cockpit flow for “line up” should include unsafetying the gear handle. When you want to retract the gear after take off, squeeze (the trigger), flex and slide the handle up. Do not safety the gear in the up position; there is no purpose in it.
Upon landing gear extension, flexing the gear handle towards the pilot clears the nub that keeps the gear handle in the up position. Notice the “cut out” at the top of the gear handle slot. That’s to accommodate the flex to pull that little nub out of its hole.
When you have placed the landing gear handle in the down position, safety the gear! Yes. Slide that bent nail thingy into position. There are two very valid reasons for this. The first reason is obvious; it’s to prevent that dreaded, inadvertent landing gear retraction. The second reason – and this is one of those CLOUD CRAFT® quirks that I insist on – is to guarantee that the handle is all the way down.
Yes Siree Bob, it is possible to slide the gear lever down, obtain landing gear deployment, and NOT have the handle all the way in the down position! If you cannot safety the landing gear handle, it is not all the way down. See? That very sophisticated systems-approach comes into play. And you thought it was just a bent nail that slides into a hole.
Yes. I know what you’re thinking. “What if I have to do a go-around?” My answer is simple. “Unsafety the landing gear handle and raise it.” You’re a pilot. It’s what you’re there for.
“ … Squeeze and flex and slide and one and two and squeeze and flex and slide …” Oh, forget it. You look silly in Danskins. We’d better stick to flying.
Keith S. Gordon
CLOUD CRAFT®
CloudCraft(at)aol.com
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