Richard said:
Thanks, Chip. Care to elaborate on those? Was it pilot error, mx malfunction, did you land, airborne troubleshooting, etc?
The first one was IMC. The gear started its journey but gave up the ghost before locking down. IIRC this is a 14 second gear extension so by the time it was all sorted out we were well down the approach. We called missed and got vectors away from the airport to troubleshoot. Nothing worked. We finally hand pumped the gear and came back around for the approach and landing.
The mechanics couldn't find anything wrong and the owner was pretty sure it was pilot error. "You have to pull the gear handle out a little before you move it. Did you do that?" Duh! Anyway, everybody was sure the problem was a loose nut in the left seat. After that, no more IMC in that airplane until the problem was fixed, and in order to fix the problem the owner and mechanic needed to admit there WAS a problem.
The next time was VFR and the same thing happened on the downwind leg. Gear starts down and stops. No more troubleshooting, just pump it down and land. And put more energy and time into finding a Beech to fly. The mechanic didn't find anything wrong and the owner flew it around quite a bit with no problems. By now they're both sure my partner and I are on crack.
My partner was alone the third time it happened. VFR again. When the gear started down and died he left the pattern and headed toward the office where the owner worked. He got his cell phone and called the owner, who was in a meeting. So my partner told the secretary that he was circling the building in the owner's airplane and the gear wouldn't come down If he (the owner) wanted to see it just come outside. Somehow the message didn't get to the owner quite that way and he came running out of the building with a bunch of suits in tow, thinking there was a serious problem. My partner made several circles around the building with that duck-like gear just hanging there, not up - not down. "OK, now the handle is up. Now the handle is down. Do you see this *&^*(ing gear moving? No, you don't. Because it's BROKEN!"
The owner got the message and his mechanic finally dug in with the belief that there was actually a problem, not that the pilot was an idiot. The found a bad pump or something (can't remember - don't care) and fixed it. The owner sold the airplane shortly after that and bought a 210. We found a very nice F33 Bonanza and bought it. We've owned five Beechcraft airplanes and only crank the gear during the flight review
The end.
