Quite long this ended up being. Oh well….
Nose wheels….lemme see…..I have lost the hydraulic fluid out of the nose wheel a few times. Never by bashing it to bits though. I seem to remember a cracked seal. It is not a big deal, although if you land without being aware of it and thump down the nose, it will scare you to death. If necessary, just crank it up and fly to your nearest friendly mechanic and have him fix it. Make sure you make a very smooth landing when you get there. Proceed to bar. Collect salary.
Nose gear collapses seems to be the leading cause of B200 write-offs. I haven’t really made a study of it, but I have flown a 200 where this happened (not with me in it), and it came to nice halt, parked on its nose. Bit of panel beating, two new props, two new engines and a new nose gear later, it was as good as new. One of the few weakspots the B200 has is here. There is a spring or bungee or some other device in the nose gear steering rod (in the nose bay, slightly left of centerline looking forward) that physically connects the rod that comes down from the pedals to the top of the nose gear assembly. It is attached to the gear with a bolt. This steering rod itself is some kind of piston arrangement and in the casing around the “thick” part of the piston, just where it becomes the “thin” part, there are four hoop like pins that protrude slightly from the casing. If these pins are more than say 10 mm out, go get a mechanic and ask him. If the bolt is missing, run and get him. My understanding is that the pins help secure the bungee/springy thing inside the piston, and if it cuts loose, the nose wheel will eventually decide to put itself at a 90 degree position. The gear will not do this during taxi and take-off, nor while retracting, where it will be held perpendicular by rotational inertia for long enough to retract. It may bang around as it comes up, because of the gyroscopic forces caused by its movement during retraction. When the gear comes down, it will at some point settle at right angles to the direction of flight, and once you land it will quickly be ripped off, and life will get really interesting. People I have talked to who have had the bungee/spring cut lose have heard a loud snap/clack/thud from under their feet. This has always happened (obviously) during taxi operations. The hoops and bolt are very well worth checking on the pre-flight, as well as the actual physical presence of the connecting rod…….stranger things have happened, and the gear will cycle quite happily on jacks without the rod installed.
Next week: the secret life of the underfloor main gear circuit breaker in a B200.
Putco: happy birthday and Abuja you can keep. Word of advise: refuse to pay anything at the airport, except fuel.The magic words are “Protocol Office” Worked a few times back. Take golf clubs – the golf club in Abuja is very beautiful, but the caddies are thieves. ciao