Aborted flight to Mena, AR (MEZ), in a Cessna 310R

916Bob

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916Bob
Three of us decided to take a quick trip up to Mena, AR (MEZ), in the Cessna 310R the other day for no other reason than to have some fun. All was good on the preflight and up to just prior to rotation, but then the plane started to pull to the right. The plane was off the ground before I could think too much about it... so I didn’t. That is until we noticed the red gear indicator light was on after I put the gear up. I had heard the gear motors cycle normally so it was a bit of a surprise until I remembered the pulling to the right on takeoff. Best guess from the right seat was a collapsed right side strut while I pondered the possibility of a tire failure. Anyway, here’s a link to a video of the flight. Note: no gerbils were harmed while making the video and all “fiddling with the camera” was completed before engine start.

 
Did you try to recycle the gear.? Then again, with three greens showing I might not have wanted to do anything that might change that....:lol::lol:

Pulling to the right on the ground I would suspect either insufficient tire pressure on the right main or brake partially stuck on, but remember I am sitting here on my recliner....

Glad you landed Ok...
 
The right strut was indeed collapsed. Don't know how or why and haven't heard anything from maintenance yet.
 
Thanks for posting. Nice job.
When you say the strut collapsed, does that mean on take-off the strut was frozen in that position and didn't extend fully, thus impairing gear retraction into the wheel well?
 
Did you try to recycle the gear.? Then again, with three greens showing I might not have wanted to do anything that might change that....:lol::lol:

Pulling to the right on the ground I would suspect either insufficient tire pressure on the right main or brake partially stuck on, but remember I am sitting here on my recliner....

Glad you landed Ok...

Thanks... and I'm with you. When the gear went down and showed three green, we didn't even have to vote. We landed.
 
What do you use to overlay that flight data?
 
Thanks for posting. Nice job. What did the problem turn out to be?

Thanks. The right strut was indeed collapsed. Don't know how or why and haven't heard anything from maintenance yet.
 
Did you try to recycle the gear.? Then again, with three greens showing I might not have wanted to do anything that might change that....:lol::lol:

Pulling to the right on the ground I would suspect either insufficient tire pressure on the right main or brake partially stuck on, but remember I am sitting here on my recliner....

Glad you landed Ok...
He said he had 'red' gear indication which was his hint
 
What do you use to overlay that flight data?

The camera is a Garmin VIRB XE. It captures bunches of GPS and gyro based data that you can select to show using their editing software. Pretty cool stuff... I use it with my track cars too.
 
The camera is a Garmin VIRB XE. It captures bunches of GPS and gyro based data that you can select to show using their editing software. Pretty cool stuff... I use it with my track cars too.
How you mounting that?
 
Just as an FYI you should never intentionally retract the gear with a known collapsed strut on a Twin Cessna. If the strut doesn’t expand via gravity the wheel will hit the structure on retraction causing all kinds of damage.

Good decision.
 
What’s the instrument in the middle of the video overlay with the degree reading?
 
I'm with Ted. That was a good call.
 
What’s the instrument in the middle of the video overlay with the degree reading?

It's supposed to be the pitch angle but it doesn't ever seem to be very accurate.
 
Thanks for posting. Nice job.
When you say the strut collapsed, does that mean on take-off the strut was frozen in that position and didn't extend fully, thus impairing gear retraction into the wheel well?

It turned out that a seal in the strut failed during take off letting the nitrogen escape. That meant nothing was left to hold the plane up on the right side. It collapsed, or dropped until it was bottomed out, about 3 or more inches shorter than when properly suspended. I'm not sure if it was frozen in that position or if it extended too far after the planes weight was removed from it on take off, let it extend too far. I haven't gotten that information yet. I'm guessing the later. I hope to fly on Wednesday and I'll ask then.
 
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