AV 2003-02
19 July 2003
Nose landing gear down assist springs
Recently the student pilot of a Piper PA44 180 Seminole encountered an excessive delay in the extension of the nose landing gear. The nose gear did finally lock down and the aircraft landed without incident.
During the maintenance inspection following the incident, it was determined that the inner nose gear down assist spring, P/N 6716800 had failed. The broken inner spring was jamming the outer spring P/N 6716900, causing the delay of the extension of nose gear. These same gear down assist springs are also incorporated in the above listed Piper aircraft.
Failure of this spring may lead to unsafe gear condition.
To ensure integrity, Transport Canada recommends operators at their convenience, conduct a visual inspection of the inner assist spring. Due to it's location, this inner spring may be difficult to inspect.
Any detects or further occurrences of this nature should be reported Transport Canada, Continuing Airworthiness Ottawa via the Service Difficulty Reporting program.
Piper 44-180 Nose Gear Assy
# 32 Inner Spring
# 33 Outer Spring
For further information, contact a Transport Canada Center, or Mr. Jean Grenier, Continuing Airworthiness Ottawa, telephone (613) 952-4343, facsimile (613) 996-9178 or e-mail grenije@tc.gc.ca.
For Director, Aircraft Certification
R. William Taylor
Acting Chief, Continuing Airworthiness