Nose Strut O-Ring Was Bad...

Last week, in -22 temperatures, our nose gear drooped all the way to
the stop. Later, we were able to put some down pressure on the
stabilator (in the hangar) and bring it back up a couple of inches,
but made plans to have our A&P look at it.

Yesterday, since he wasn't coming in the shop till afternoon, we
decided to go flying first. My landing in Oskaloosa, IA (KOOA) was
gingerly -- a text book soft field landing, with the nose gear staying
high in the air till almost stopped. The strut stayed up around three
inches all the way to parking. The temperature was about 5 above
zero, and I thought that perhaps this had been a transient problem
that had "fixed itself". (We always hope, no? :-)

Not. Mary's landing back in Iowa City was fine, but the strut again
collapsed to the stop -- so we taxied straight to the shop. My A&P
told me that he could "service" it (basically, add air), but after
some discussion we decided to replace the seals in the strut. He
said that the O-rings were likely old (we hadn't replaced them in the
5 years we've owned Atlas), stiff, and perhaps "rolled", so that even
though lubricating the strut and adding air might do the trick for a
while, it would be a stop-gap measure, at best.

I helped him do it, and it took about an hour. (Of course, he's done
it a million times -- the job would have taken me all day, with
instructions, and I might have killed myself doing it.) But now, the
strut is sitting tall again, with new fluids, O-rings, and air
pressure.

Total: $65. Not bad at all, in aviation terms...

He says that it's SOP to apply brake fluid to the struts of the DC-9s
he services (at his day job) every, single time they park. It's
messy, as a result, but their strut seals rarely need to be replaced.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"