Another successful gear up landing

[tafisama]

Not sure what is going on with the Baroons.This is a fourth one if I am mistaken.https://www.9news.com.au/national/plane-emergency-landing-south-australia-aldinga-adelaide/f81b8582-d1a1-49ec-af94-7e4b5eafc653

[turboplanner]

1 hour ago, tafisama said:

Not sure what is going on with the Baroons.This is a fourth one if I am mistaken.https://www.9news.com.au/national/plane-emergency-landing-south-australia-aldinga-adelaide/f81b8582-d1a1-49ec-af94-7e4b5eafc653

Just because it's a Beechcraft Baron doesn't mean it can't have problems. Rectractable undercarriage has a lot of components and a hydraulic hose is a hydraulic hose and can blow at any time. If the aircraft has been sitting for some time, pump seals dry out, oil leaks past the dried seal, and there's not enough oil or pressure to operate the hydraulics, parts can seize etc, but the big lesson for RA pilots is the aircraft is stillperfectly flyable and that's what this pilot did, eventually putting the aircraft down at its minimum speed, so doing very little damage. Patience pays.

[cooperplace]

Just listened to the 9 News account and loved it. Some gems:

 

(i) pilot landed "nose up to keep the props off the ground"

(ii) "pilot headed out to sea to get rid of some fuel"

 

Well done to the pilot for not feathering the props before landing: that has turned out badly for others. I've never flown a Baron but I doubt they have a fuel dump capability. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Good job by the pilot. The reporter noted the back of his shirt was covered in sweat; she got that right.

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by cooperplace

[Thruster88]

Cirrus has the answer. Insurance and maintenance costs on a retractable would negate any fuel saving. 

 

The Baron/Bonanza has a single mechanical gearbox to lower gear driven by a small electric motor, hand crank about 80 turns as a backup.  

[KRviator]

6 hours ago, turboplanner said:

Just because it's a Beechcraft Baron doesn't mean it can't have problems. Rectractable undercarriage has a lot of components and a hydraulic hose is a hydraulic hose and can blow at any time. If the aircraft has been sitting for some time, pump seals dry out, oil leaks past the dried seal, and there's not enough oil or pressure to operate the hydraulics, parts can seize etc, but the big lesson for RA pilots is the aircraft is stillperfectly flyable and that's what this pilot did, eventually putting the aircraft down at its minimum speed, so doing very little damage. Patience pays.

Except the Bo and Baron don't have hydraulics in the gear system. It was a worm-drive motor turning a sector gear in turn linked by pushrods to the gear assemblies themselves. It's about as bulletproof an electro-mechanical system as you can get, in part for that reason, there's no hydraulics involved...

[turboplanner]

53 minutes ago, KRviator said:

Except the Bo and Baron don't have hydraulics in the gear system. It was a worm-drive motor turning a sector gear in turn linked by pushrods to the gear assemblies themselves. It's about as bulletproof an electro-mechanical system as you can get, in part for that reason, there's no hydraulics involved...

OOPS

[kgwilson]

Which means the gear mechanism or some other component must have jammed/broken or else he would have been able to manually wind the gear down easily enough.

[spacesailor]

Dead battery ?.

Or just a broken wire ,

spacesailor

[facthunter]

All I can recall about the Beech landing gear is it being placarded on the leg with "Heat Treated Assembly". The flap and gear ext levers are close together. There is always a specified "emergency extension procedure" and A failure of all legs to extend would be impossible I would think.. The pilot might elect to land with the gear up for particular reasons. (Ditching being one example). Nev

[poteroo]

Emergency extension is very simple and usually works on the legs which haven't suffered any mechanical damage. Nose gear seems most prone to this, hence the pilot visible ng indicator below inst panel. One item can be a cause of system failure is the emergency gear winder handle. If it's not restored correctly after practice emergency extensions, it can catch on clothing, books, ropes etc - causing the cb to trip. Clear and stow,reset cb, and try again. 

FWIW, I'd consider engine shut down only early in a faster roundout because a stopped prop may save your engine needing a bulk strip. You really need to be a top driver in good practice to do this. Lot of stress in gear events!

[marshallarts]

7 hours ago, kgwilson said:

Which means the gear mechanism or some other component must have jammed/broken

 

Yes, in my dear old Debonair in a past life, the pushrod/tube cracked and bent in the tunnel leading out the wing.  I had wondered why I'd been hearing  a "clunk" when I lowered the gear - it was the pushrod near the kink point, banging into the wing structure.  See pic below.  Fortunately it never led to a failure to be able to lower the gear - it was found at the next 100-hourly.  And fortunately the hole in the rib it passed through was small enough that the bend in the pushrod didn't shorten it enough to prevent full gear extension.  Very lucky there, it certainly would have failed completely, in the not too distant.

 

I was always very impressed with the design of the gear mechanism on the Deb (same as Bonanza and Baron too I believe) - just one motor, with several gears/arms etc and the pushrods, which opened the gear doors and extended the gear, and then closed the small inner doors as well (I think), with just one spin of the motor shaft.  Then the reverse to retract.  A very clever piece of engineering.  But everything with moving parts can/will fail eventually!

[facthunter]

The Beech's you mention are very well made and  expensive to repair.(naturally). Nev

[marshallarts]

29 minutes ago, facthunter said:

The Beech's you mention are very well made and  expensive to repair.(naturally).

Yes, sadly I'm very well aware of that.  I was the last owner of our Debonair - when we decided to sell her after about 4 years, she was found to have corrosion in some places where corrosion is NOT allowed, and repairs would have involved taking wings off, etc etc etc.  Nobody would give quoted prices for that sort of thing, and I could not sign an open cheque, so the only option was to sell her for salvage and scrap.  We lost a fairly large heap of money on that, needless to say, and that was me out of aviation, overnight.  That was in the days before the internet was huge like now, so I guess if it had happened these days I could have sold her as a "restoration project" and maybe done somewhat better. At least I could have reached a much bigger potential market than I could then.

 

Anyway, at least there was no loan to pay out, and nobody got hurt.  And owning our "Debbie" was still one of the greatest experiences in my life, for sure.  It gave me some of the highest highs (and the lowest lows) I've ever had.

[facthunter]

The flaps are not as efficient as say  a C-182 which is better at lifting out of a short strip. I also found it HOT on a sunny day and a bit inclined to wander in pitch.. Fairly quick and solid. ALL planes are good at stripping you of money. Had yours been near the sea? The later Pipers corrode worse. The early ones were GOOD that way.  Nev