Cocked pistol?

[mhorowit]

On a seperate thread I told about my accident. Tomorrow I"m going out to the plane and sit by it a while; do some pondering.

But the landing gears - I don't recall how the bungie cords act on the gear, but because both gears are horizontal and possibly back, I'm wondering if the bungees might be under tension, just waiting to spring loose.

How can I safely tell if the bungees are under tension and if we have a cocked pistol waiting for a good jolt? - Mike

[Hank Jarrett]

Look under the fuselage and you should see them stretched out to the ends of the triangle piece that used to be flush with the belly. If the wheels are splayed out the bungees are probably long gone. Next step would be to pull the kick plate under the front of the lower seat cushion (probably want to remove the cushions anyway, I imagine they are a mess). You should be able to see the remains of the bungees when you look back under the seat sling. You might want to consider pulling the hinge bolts on the doors and taking them off since the wheels and struts have probably jammed at least one of them. You do have her inside don't you? Have the authorities released the plane back to you yet? After an accident they usually won't let you do anything with the plane till they release it. Most of them don't know what constitutes an "accident".
Hank

[mhorowit]

Hello Hank - Must be very careful with words. IAW the FAR/AIM, this was not an 'accident' or an 'incident'. If we must call it anything, it was a 'mishap'. As it was neither an 'accident' nor an 'incident', it need not be reported; I will, however, submitt one of those NASA Air Safety thingies.

She's in a hanger; the airport owner didn't think it would be good for PR to have her remain in the ditch.

Cushions are in remarkable good shape

Neither door is jammed.

Contacted insurance this morning and they want the resident A&P to make an estimate, take pics. - Regards, MIke

[Hank Jarrett]

Send me the pictures (digital I assume) and I will see if I can spot anything more you should look at. I spent a LOT of years evaluating damage and finding "funny" load paths that caused damage that wasn't obvious. E-mail is [email protected] in case you don't have it at hand. No jams on the doors is a GOOD thing! Tells a lot about perminent deformations.
Hank

[Forrest Barber]

I presume the cords are broken and the safety cables tried to do their job. Let me see pics if possilble. I can safely say you had an "accident" do to the amount of damage to the airframe. If the cords are still in place YES they are a cocked gun..... keep in touch e-mail direct at [email protected] darn it all....