Piper LSA Loses Wheel at Camden

[old man emu]

On Saturday morning a Piper LSA operating out of Camden lost its nosewheel on soon after rotating on take off.

 

The following landing was carried out successfully and no one was injured. The attached photo records part of the action during the landing.

 

OME

 

 

[fly_tornado]

cows seem to cope with the excitement ok, no damage to the prop?

 

 

[dazza 38]

Good to see that they landed on bitumen. Could have realy ended in tears if they had to land on the grass.That nose wheel tube would have dug in like anchor I reckon.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Seems to have done a good job...direction control may have been a problem, i'm sure he can get another nose leg or repair that one............................................................Maj...

 

 

[old man emu]

cows seem to cope with the excitement ok, no damage to the prop?

Those cows produce Carnation Milk - from contented cows.

 

Not sure about the prop. I'll get the hot gossip tomorrow.

 

OME

 

 

[Tomo]

Motz operates this aircraft I believe... if so it was in good hands

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Boy if they didn't ding that prop they would have been within a beesdick of doing so !!!...but lets hope not................................................Maj...

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Thanx Tomo..But not my aircraft. would have been curtises one. The nosewheel assembly on the Piper sports is its worst issue. The basic design isnt the best, and not helped by the fact some of them were put together backwards.

 

I believe the new model (sports cruiser) have gone with steerable nosewheel and olio..

 

I wonder of the prop was stopped in this landing??..Looks like it.. Im glad it didnt go over.. She can be landed very very slow if your on the ball.

 

Ossie, was this you mate??

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Id put money on cracked out bolt holes that hold the nosewheel bracket to the leg joint. You cant see or inspect the holes unless you pull the assembly apart. The shimmey just after takeoff causes the holes to flog out.

 

We found it on ours only after a flat tyre.:)

 

 

[mattbutton]

Is now a good time to make an offer, mine very keen for a sports cruiser

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Pm me. I know of one for sale.:)

 

 

[old man emu]

Yes, it was Curtis'. There was no prop strike. Since we don't serice it, I didn't think nit would be polite to go to where it is serviced and make enquiries. The consensus is that it was due to a desgn fault as described above.

 

OME

 

 

[facthunter]

Nosewheels are a weak point on all planes and the smaller they ( the planes) get, the weaker they ( the nosewheels assembly) are. Shimmy is hard to control an any nosewheel set up and I wonder what most of these castoring efforts operate like. You even get shimmy on tailwheels, but you can taxi with them off the ground if you think you are up to it. ( Nice to be able to do it in an emergency and another reason to consider a tailwheel configuration on a small aircraft.) As has been said, it would be another outcome on grass and a few dollars to be found to get flying again. IF you were unlucky you would tip it over and perhaps write it off. Nev

 

 

[ayavner]

I like the title of the photo on your desktop LOL

 

"bugger.pdf"

 

That's about right. I guess it was just a prop strike from "sh*t.pdf"

 

Glad everyone's ok...