Bellanca Cruiseair Kidwell Hydraulic Gear conversion information request

brcase

brcase

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Brian
Any body know anything about this Kidwell Conversion?

Mostly want to know how it is powered, am a bit suspicious it is a hand pump system, but it might have an electric pump, or even and engine driven pump I am not seeing.

Anything else I should know about how it works before flying one.

Thank You

Brian
 
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The Bellanca 14-13 Cruisair series featured retractable landing gear involving a manual hand crank operation. Later models - the 14-19 Cruisemaster series - incorporated an engine driven hydraulic pump which power hydraulic actuators to raise and lower the gear. Some Cruisairs have been modified with the hydraulic gear. This conversion does not use the same design as the later aircraft, and to my knowledge, does not incorporate an electric or engine driven hydraulic pump although there are some owner modified systems out there. We here at the Bellanca Aircraft factory do not offer support for this system, however we do not have any reports of problems if properly maintained. Important issues to be considered when looking at the purchase of a Cruisair (or any Bellanca for that matter) is the condition of the wood wing and the fabric covering. A thorough prebuy inspection by an experienced Bellanca shop is highly recommended. Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss further - my contact info can be found at www.bellancaaircraft.com
 
Thanks Rob, I was able to talk with the previous owner and a mechanic that specializes in 14 and 17 series Bellanca. Confirmed that the Kidwell conversion is a Manual gear system i.e. you move the selector to the up or down position and then manually pump up the hydraulic pressure to finish moving the gear up or down.

My concern especially after flying a couple Cruisemasters was that there was supposed to be a powered pump to maintain hydraulic pressure and that if it had one, it obviously wasn’t working, since the hydraulic pressure would go to zero when we selected the gear up or down, and we had to manually pump the pressure back up.

We also noticed with the hydraulic pressure pumped up to about 900# on the ground with the engine off we could hear noise that might have been the hydraulic pressure turning either an electric pump or a mechanical pump that had a sheared connection. The previous owner confirmed what were hearing was the pressure relief valve.

Now that I know how the system works, I have no issues with flying it. We do need to figure out why the gear warning system isn’t working before we fly it.

Would also like to see him get some should harnesses in the plane.

Next interesting question I need to figure out how to handle what endorsements are required. This plane has an aero-matic prop on it, so as I read 61.1 it does NOT qualify as a complex airplane. It is also not high performance. The concern is that if something happened the insurance company might not understand the nuisances between a retractable and a complex airplane.

I think the best answer is we will rent a complex airplane so I can log that I have provided training in a complex airplane, and provided training for the complex endorsement. Even if most of it was in a plane that technically doesn’t quality as complex.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
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Rob: Do you happen to have access to the old Bellanca records dating back to WW2, or know who does? My Fairchild was built by Bellanca in 1944. It was the 2nd of 39 they built under contract to Fairchild.

Craig
 
brcase said:
Next interesting question I need to figure out how to handle what endorsements are required. This plane has an aero-matic prop on it, so as I read 61.1 it does NOT qualify as a complex airplane. It is also not high performance. The concern is that if something happened the insurance company might not understand the nuisances between a retractable and a complex airplane.
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Very interesting point you brought up Brian... so I went back to read 61.1 again. While the Aeromatic propeller does not have a pilot operated control per se, the pilot actually does control the effective pitch based on the power and other flight conditions. 61.1 does acknowledge that the FADEC control system is included in the definition of a "complex" aircraft. Essentially the Aeromatic prop is an early analogue to the FADEC control. Of course an argument for or against classifying the Aeromatic as a component of the complex aircraft definition is really pointless. The better decision is to go ahead and get checked out in a Piper Saratoga or 182RG or similar and obtain both the complex and high performance endorsements at the same time. Or even a better alternative check out in a 230 or 260 Cruisemaster!
 
Craig said:
Rob: Do you happen to have access to the old Bellanca records dating back to WW2, or know who does? My Fairchild was built by Bellanca in 1944. It was the 2nd of 39 they built under contract to Fairchild.
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Hi Craig, our factory does not have these older records (or at least we have not found anything like this since I bought the business a while back). To the best of my knowledge the family of Giuseppe Bellanca donated all of the historic documents and type certificates to the Smithsonian. It is hard to say how complete this document package actually was, however the Smithsonian will assist you with research into these archives and will then sell copies of this documentation on an individual basis. If you do pursue this please let me know how successful the search proves to be. You are not the first to ask about some of this historic documentation.
 
Thanks for the feedback Rob. I knew a lot of the older stuff went to NASM, but wanted to be sure. I’ve got an acquaintance in the DC area that has offered to copy anything possible from the archives while there on his twice a week research trips. Just need to list it all and in what order to copy it.
 
Rob58 said:
Very interesting point you brought up Brian... so I went back to read 61.1 again. While the Aeromatic propeller does not have a pilot operated control per se, the pilot actually does control the effective pitch based on the power and other flight conditions. 61.1 does acknowledge that the FADEC control system is included in the definition of a "complex" aircraft. Essentially the Aeromatic prop is an early analogue to the FADEC control. Of course an argument for or against classifying the Aeromatic as a component of the complex aircraft definition is really pointless. The better decision is to go ahead and get checked out in a Piper Saratoga or 182RG or similar and obtain both the complex and high performance endorsements at the same time. Or even a better alternative check out in a 230 or 260 Cruisemaster!
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That is pretty much what I decided as well. This guy already has his High Performance Endorsement in a 182, so is familiar with Constant Speed Prop operation. So I was thinking get him up to speed in the Cruiseair and then at least one flight in a Mooney so I he can demonstrate his "complex" skills and I can say I have provided him training in a complex airplane. But good idea, I might be able to borrow a Cruisemaster for a flight, instead of using the Mooney.

Brian
CFIIIG/ASEL
 
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