C-FTES gear up landing

[Gord Tessier]

All, on Aug 13, we had a gear up landing. The gear would not deploy, tried everything including adding oil to the gear pump that we had on onboard. All hydraulic fuid pumped itself overboard. Manual pump also pumped all the fluid overboard. Culprit was a failed nose gear actuator as per the attached photo.
Perhaps check yours for leaks etc. It's easy to overhail them and a lot less expensive then a gear up landing.

[Frank Benvin]

Sorry to hear that - bummer Three yrs ago we rebuilt all actuators and replaced all the hoses for the gear - brakes and fuel systems. Some of the fuel hoses were hard and brittle Easy to break if you flexed them Guessing the heat from the engine takes a toll on them Another thing to check. Wouldn't want a fuel line to let go in flight.

[Gord Tessier]

Thanks Frank, I just wanted to get it out there. May save someone else some grief.

[rmorris]

Originally Posted by Frank Benvin

Sorry to hear that - bummer Three yrs ago we rebuilt all actuators and replaced all the hoses for the gear - brakes and fuel systems. Some of the fuel hoses were hard and brittle Easy to break if you flexed them Guessing the heat from the engine takes a toll on them Another thing to check. Wouldn't want a fuel line to let go in flight.

Who did you use for rebuilding all the actuators? Works be interested in doing it, just as a prevention thing.

[Gord Tessier]

They are actaully pretty easy to rebuild apparently. My AME (IN Canada AME = A&P) said he could do them.

[Frank Benvin]

My AME in Canada rebuilt them ordered the guts that he needed and rebuilt him. Wasn't a hard job as long as the rods and cylinders are in good shape

Frank

[Kim Geyer]

I’ve resealed many over the years and it’s not hard to do. Looking at Gord’s picture it looks like the snap ring on the end cap failed and the end blew out

[Gord Tessier]

That’s exactly what we think happened. We put it back together and the gear worked fine in manual mode. Pump burned itself out though.