Nosewheel housing.

[Guest Graham Lea]

Before we fly, we do a DI and check the maintenance record (if hiring).

 

One of the things it is easy to miss is to sight the nose wheel housing due to the location being low and almost out of sight.

 

It is important to actually take a good look the the fire glass to see if there are any cracks or signs of splitting or stress or bruising on it.

 

One never knows if the previous person had a slightly heavy landing or landed on a rough grass strip and caused a crack(s) in the housing which can spread.

 

The result of this if you are off to a grass strip in particular can be pretty disastrous.

 

Breaking of the housing on landing on a grass strip can result in cartwheeling of the a/c and disaster.

 

Even on tarmac it makes for a noisy landing. And the need for a broom to sweep the bits of the runway while everyone orbits above taking pictures of the event.

 

Plus the paperwork.

 

So: include in your DI: MAKE SURE YOU LOOK CLOSELY AT THE HOUSING. If there are any fine lines on it, use your fingernail to determine if it is a crack or not and make sure you identify what caused the line if it is not a crack.

 

 

[Yenn]

I am not a Jab pilot but I was under the impression that jabiru had changed the design of the nosewheel attachment so that in the event of a catastrophe, the securing bolts pulled through the firewall, rather than the fibreglass breaking.

 

Is that what really happens?

 

 

[Guest brentc]

Jab replaced the glass housing with an aluminium version some years ago. It was for PFA certification in the UK that stated that the housing must be aluminium. From what I have seen in an accident situation, the bolts bend and sometimes sheer off sideways, but I have seen the firwall bend and rip out too - depends on the forces involved.