On Feb 5, 9:52*am, PK wrote:
Well I finally done it. After checking that my gear handle was in the
proper position twice prior to landing, shortly after touchdown my
gear collapsed!
The only thing we could think is that the gear handle appeared to be
in the detent when it really was not. Further looking at it one can
actually miss the detent slightly, just before the actual notch and
still have the handle touching the side of the cockpit everything
looking just right. Somehow I guess one needs to lean over, look and
make sure it is in actually engaged, somewhat of a pain.
My question, is there any safety device available out there to prevent
this problem? PeterK

It's been a while since I owned a DG, but I do remember that the notch
in the plate in metal plate is not the actual detent. The detent is
visible if you look through the slot in the plate, and IIRC it
consists of a few rubbber shock absorbing donuts with a metal washer
toward the front. The gear handle is supposed slide in front of the
metal washer when you swing it over to the side wall. Unfortunately,
if one applies side pressure while pushing the handle forward, the
handle can slide into to the notch in the plate while the handle is
still aft of the washer, which leaves you with just some rubber and
the small notch locking it into place. Hit a bump sufficient to
bounce the gear out of the over center position, and it collapses. On
my DG-303, the washer hand an added metal half cylinder guard which
covered the rubber donuts. When all works correctly, the guard
prevents the handle from being pushed to the side wall until it is
forward of the washer. Being an expert at finding flaws in systems,
however, I once managed to apply sufficient side pressure to catch the
aft end of the guard part and bend it such that I couldn't push the
handle farther forward. Using my palm to hold the handle forward as
far as it would go, and making a very smooth landing, avoided
disaster.

Bottom line, make sure you don't apply any outward side force to the
handle until it is solidly in the full forward position. I believe
there is a positive gear locking modification for the 300 detailed in
a non-mandatory SB. It may also be possible to retrofit a functional
equivalent of the 303 metal guard to older 300s...

Marc