Two green, no red, one in the mirror....(long)

I thought I'd share a story with you. I have posted a few things here, and
really enjoyed the information that people share on these groups.

Some background: I'm currently working on my ME rating, and was out with my
instructor polishing up some maneuvers. I have about 12 to 14 hours in a
Seminole, and have been working on a VFR ME rating (the IFR ME rating will
be later).

So yesterday, my instructor and I headed out on a really nice Pacific NW
day (decent ceilings, great visibility and temps in the 40s at the surface).
We were planning on doing a few maneuvers, a Vmc demo or two, single engine
failure procedures, etc. We also planned on practicing simulated engine
failures in the pattern. All of this was to get ready for my upcoming ME
check ride.

I completed the pre-flight, and we didn't have any issues on run up. All
systems appeared normal, and working great. On our take-off roll, we got an
alternator warning. We aborted the take off, ran through the check lists,
reset the alternator, and the problem seemed to go away. (The alternator
problem was not our problem later on, and is probably not even related to
the problem we encountered).

So we finally got going, headed out to a practice area and began our
maneuvers. Everything was going fairly well, Vmcs looked decent, engine
failure procedures were looking better, etc. We were close to the airport
we were planning on doing pattern work, but we were above 5000AGL, so my
instructor asked me to do an emergency decent. For those unfamiliar with
it, the procedure is to bring the gear down, throttles to idle, props full
forward, and start a 45 deg descending turn while maintaining around 140kts.
I extended the gear (below the required 140), started to see the lights
turning green, and started the procedure. The lights normally all light
within a second of each other. Both the instructor and I notice the right
main light was not lit. We stopped the emergency decent, and reconfigured
to retract the gear. After a couple of attempts to cycle the gear, and swap
gear light bulbs, we determined that indeed, we were not getting a positive
lock indication on the right main gear. We even tried the emergency gear
extension, with the same results.

So at this point, we decided to head back to our home field and get some
help.While heading back we are both trying to figure out what might be
causing the problem. We are both thinking it might be as simple as the gear
lock switch, or as complicated as a gear stuck in transit.

The tower at Boeing Field allowed us to do a fly by, and was able to tell us
that the gear was down. They of course couldn't determine if it was locked
or not, but at least we know that it seems to be extending. We then left
the airport and headed out west to do more troubleshooting, and to call our
FBO mechanics. While I am flying a small circuit over the Olympic Peninsula,
my instructor talked on his cell phone to the FBO's maintenance gang. We
tried a bunch of variables. Extending the gear while in a turn, pulling
circuit breakers to reset the system then extending it, you name it, we
tried it. We spent over an hour trying to sort it out. Finally we arrived
at the point were we've burned off some of our extra fuel (now we only have
around 20 gals/ side) and our daylight is beginning to go. We decide that
the problem can't be fixed from inside the cockpit, and we'll just have to
hope that the issue is just the lock switch.

Remarkably both my instructor an I stayed pretty calm about the whole thing.
We get set up for our upcoming emergency landing by discussing who will do
what if the gear collapses (since he is flying, he would cut the mixtures,
I'd get the fuel shut-offs, mags, alts, and master). We remove our knee
boards, remove the decorative "emergency exit" handle cover, and locate the
fire extinguisher.

We did one more fly by of the tower, and they once again confirmed that the
gear was down. We went around again, declared our emergency, waited for a
767 to land, and went in. The Boeing Field fire department was ready and
waiting, which re-assured us if the worst happened, they would be there in
seconds.

The landing went extremely well. My instructor managed to hold the plane at
stall, and set it down as gently as was possible on the left gear first.
Lucky for us the right gear was locked, or at least held long enough for us
to land, taxi off the runway, and park. (Last time I checked the airplane is
in for determination of the problem).

It was an excellent learning experience, with the best outcome imaginable. I
know more about the Seminole's landing gear than I ever did before. I also
learned that keeping a cool head during a potential emergency will let you
clearly think about problems and most importantly-- keep flying the plane.
It can be distracting troubleshooting, flying and talking on the radio at
once. Keeping things in perspective and working as a team helped keep
everything manageable. The FBO's maintenance guys, the Boeing Fire
department and the Boeing tower also were key in keeping things manageable
and as safe as possible.

I definitely have to say, it was one of my most useful flights.

Len
PPSEL, working on that ME.