Swagger897 wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 23:10
The funny/sad part about what happened last week though is that once the crane came in to pick it up, they swung the gear and towed it to its hangar without a problem.
I'm not sure why you think this as it's not what happened. The Aerostar gear is heavy and when it's in the up position, with that large wheel at the end of a long strut, it comes down fast when testing. Once it was in the air from the crane, I had to wrestle with the gear and could not get the left gear to lock no matter what I did. We connected the battery and charged the hydraulics and it took about 30 sec before all three gear down lights were illuminated.
Chris (Capflyer), due to the holidays nobody has had a chance to look at it. Also, being at Bradley International it's going to be challenging to find a mechanic willing to jack it up and inspect it. It's possible someone will have to pull the wings and flat bed out out of there.
The current theory is something in the hydraulics failed and something is lodged in the hydraulic system. We know there is blockage somewhere or somehow as the gear just does move easily from hydraulic resistance. It behaves like just a trickle of hydraulic fluid is passing to apply a down force. I have the best Aerostar mechanics on this and we will find out and whatever the cause is and it will end up in an FAA report.
Oh btw, someone somewhere asked "did you try rocking it to lock it?" and the answer is "yes." I also applied a strong positive G to try and pull that left gear down with no effect.
Scott
A2A Simulations Inc.