Jim Besselman wrote:
The flaps on my Sundowner behave the same way and have ever since I've owned
the plane. I had the A & P that did my prebuy check it out and could find
nothing wrong. I also found an entry in an old squawk booklet that noted the
problem. The maintenance responce was that this was "Normal". The air
movement from the prop is sufficient for them to retract. I am interested in
what your A & P says.


Our club's Piper occasionally does this. I was told this is normal but
personally I believe that is BS. But I'm not an A&P I'm only an
Aerospace Engineer so what would I know. My guess without taking the
system apart is that this is a worn linkage allowing some bellcrack to
go over center at full extension. Will the air loads retract the flap?
Probably. Is this the mechanism the engineer had in mind for flap
retraction when it was designed? I doubt it.

John Roncallo

I read an article one time about pilot squawks and A&P responses. My
favorite one goes like this.

Pilot: Prop #3 seeping oil
Mechanic: Oil seepage is normal
Pilot: Props #1, 2, 4 lack normal seepage.

John Roncallo