Mooney U/C Lever

[BEXIL160]

Hello all,

Sat in a nice looking Mooney M20 today, but am puzzled by the .. ahem.. Undercarriage Lever.

Beneath the throttle and prop controls, is a large vertical tubular bar with a red metal pate on top of it. This, my guide told me is the U/C lever. And lever it is.

Question. How does it work then? Manual hydraulics?


Can some wise soul let me know please

Thanks.

BEX

P.S. Went to Kerville Tx. once, in the mid 1990s and went round the Mooney factory. Don't remember big U/c levers.

[scooter boy]

I operate an M20-R and can only imagine that what you were looking at was the emergency manual gear extension handle. This is a red coloured metal thing with a cover over it to prevent inadvertent activation.
This is more usually situated on the floor of the aircraft aft of fuel tank selector and the manual trim wheel and lets you get the wheels down if the electric mechanism fails.

The usual gear lever (in recent aircraft) is grey coloured, wheel shaped and on the panel either just under the glare shield or just above the bottom of the panel but within easy reach of the pilot's right hand.

SB

[stiknruda]

More years ago than I care to remember , I flew an M20C out of Andrau in Houston. (Does that still exist - it must be sky-scraper City by now?)

It had a very similar arrangement to the one that you describe BEX. IIRC The red bit is the safety gate.

You move that out of the way, and then p.. pu...pull the lever toward the tail, as it gets to about 45 degreesfrom vertical, you roll your wrist around and push it down to horizontal - this manually retracts the gear. Scooter boy - you are so fortunate as this is the only system on the C model! And it is bloody difficult. There is a low gear op speed but as you get near it, the difficult procedure is made more difficult by drag.

I did about 50 take offs and landings in that 20C and although I loved the x-country performance, I always worried about getting the gear up AND getting self and pax through the single door in a hurry, if I failed to get it down!!

Hope that helps

Stik

[Miserlou]

As Stik describes it is the normal operating gear lever as fitted to earlier models. It was designed this way to avoid unintended gear retraction.

I seem to remember it could remove skin from the knuckles if one wasn't careful.

[BEXIL160]

Thanks v much for the hows and whys.

Yes indeed it was a Mooney M20C "Mark21" (or so it said). Actually I kinda like the big chunky lever, It's difficult to forget I suppose.... Reds Blues GREENS (look down and right yep, the crowbar is Vertical and locked).

I also suppose after a while your right arm muscles develop, or you get fed up with it.

time to make inquires about flying it.....

Thanks again

BEX:ok:

[pithblot]

I have a vague memory from at least forty years ago, of riding in the back seat of a Mooney. I was four or five and I'm not sure what stage of the flight this occurred but I reached forward and dislodged whatever held the lever in place. The wheels then went into free fall and the lever,attached to the wheels, smashed into Dad's right elbow. I think it did more than take a bit of skin off!

Whenever Dad told this story he would always accompany it with a tale of watching through the open cockpit door of a DC3 bounding down the runway as the Captain smacked the Co-Pilot's hand away from the gear lever! (The point being that the new Co-Pilot wanted to retract the wheels while still on the ground).

Years later I used to ponder the prospect of flying along happily above the cloud and a hand (attached to a very long arm) would sneak past the C/B panel towards the STOP buttons!

Cheers - PITHBLOT

[M20 Man]

I Fly an M20C and after you have got used to the Johnson Bar (which is what the yanks call it) It is a great system simple foolproof and very reliable.

As for gear retraction and extension speeds those are slowish at 120mph but with ractise its simple. Antway the point about a Mooney is speed and economy.

[JHjr]

Have a lot of time in an Mooney M20C (commonly called the Mark 21) and fly one now -- with the old "crowbar" gear. The "crowbar" is a large Johnson bar with a sliding collar on it, that sticks up from the floor to the bottom of the instrument panel, where the sliding collar latches into a casting with a release button. At the other end of its travel, it swings back and down to the floor, and latches into a casting there.

On the one hand, they take getting a little used to -- but on the other, they're utterly reliable, very simple, and EASY if you do it right.

The big secret is to stay at 80 MPH after takeoff until you've got the gear up. Push the release button, pull the collar down, swing the bar to the UP (floor) position rapidly, and push it briskly into the latch. The faster you're going, the harder it gets, and above 100 MPH it's just about impossible to get it into the UP latch. Ditto extending the gear. It's easy at about 100 MPH (the limit is 120).

[9 lives]

The Mooneys I have flown all had the electric gear, but I have seen the manual systems. In my Teal, the gear is similarly completely manual. It's a workout to move it, but as said, totally reliable, and simple to maintain. If the muscle required to operate the gear is tired, and you're flying by yourself, you can cheat a little, and bunt it over to half a G, and timed right, the gear comes up with much less effort!

[Pace]

The big secret is to stay at 80 MPH after takeoff until you've got the gear up. Push the release button, pull the collar down, swing the bar to the UP (floor) position rapidly, and push it briskly into the latch. The faster you're going, the harder it gets, and above 100 MPH it's just about impossible to get it into the UP latch. Ditto extending the gear. It's easy at about 100 MPH (the limit is 120).

JHjr is spot on :ok: I used to fly one with this setup then moved to an M20J
These earlier systems were a handful and 80 MPH the trick as above that it got stiffer and stiffer to retract until impossible. Hold the nose up to maintain 80MPH retract then lower the nose to accelerate! You get used to it

Pace

[RatherBeFlying]

In gliders there's just one wheel (excepting Stemmes) to retract and get back down. There's even at least one glider with optional electric gear. I know one instructor in such a glider who got confused as to gear state. That club still does not bother to exercise the alternate gear extension in the annual check:=

Some require more effort to retract than others, but laudably the extension is easy in every glider I've flown.

[Deeday]

Interesting step-by-step guide on how to operate a Mooney's manual gear, with photos, written by a guy from the owners' association:

MANUAL LANDING GEAR (http://donmaxwell.com/publications/MAPA_TEXT/Manual%20Gear%20Operation/LANDING_GEAR%29OPERATION.HTM)

http://donmaxwell.com/publications/MAPA_TEXT/Manual%20Gear%20Operation/LANDING_GEAR8.JPG (http://donmaxwell.com/publications/MAPA_TEXT/Manual%20Gear%20Operation/LANDING_GEAR%29OPERATION.HTM)