Arrow auto gear extension oddness

I'm guessing that the excess airspeed on the "doors" caused one of the doors
to pop open a bit and the micro switch thinks the door had come open.

I used to run into this all the time with a miss rigged nose gear door, bump
through some turbulence and the "gear in transit" would light up, only way
to clear it was to slow down and cycle the gear to get it to re latch.

BTW, I'm not sure about the older 180HP arrows, but most of the newer Arrows
have the auto extend mechanism disabled by either an AD or a Service
Bulletin.

Try a power off stall and see if the gear extends, it should not.

BT

"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
I was on a training flight a few days ago in a 180 HP Arrow. I was
demonstrating pitch stability. We were trimmed for straight and level
cruise (something like 23 inches and 2300 RPM at 3500 feet) when I
pushed us over into a dive, letting the airspeed climb well up into the
yellow arc.

Here's the strange part; the yellow "Gear in Transit" light came on
during the dive, as if the auto extension system thought we were trying
to land. The gear didn't actually extend, but the light came on and
(IIRC) the warning alarm when off too. I don't remember the exact speed
this happened at, but it was certainly well above Vlo.

Anybody have any idea what might have caused this? The auto extension
system relies on a combination of airspeed and throttle setting, but
both were well outside the normal operating conditions to trigger a gear
extension.

In article bwc1c.12546$id3.4348@fed1read01,
"BTIZ" wrote:

BTW, I'm not sure about the older 180HP arrows, but most of the newer Arrows
have the auto extend mechanism disabled by either an AD or a Service
Bulletin.

Why would you want to disable it?

Roy Smith wrote:
In article bwc1c.12546$id3.4348@fed1read01,
"BTIZ" wrote:


BTW, I'm not sure about the older 180HP arrows, but most of the newer Arrows
have the auto extend mechanism disabled by either an AD or a Service
Bulletin.


Why would you want to disable it?

So you can practice maneuvers near minimum airspeed without the gear dropping,
so the gear doesn't drop when the gear extension pitot gets iced over (it's not
heated). Of course, here we are talking about disabling it with the cockpit
control, not by AD.

IIRC from my Piper-flying days, there was an AD to disable the auto-extension,
then the AD was rescinded. While the AD was in effect, it was disabled on some
airplanes and never re-enabled. So there's a mix of airplanes out there with and
without the auto gear extension enabled.

I did not realize the AD was rescinded.. actually I think the gist of the AD
was that Piper did not want to be responsible for aging equipment and have
to take the responsibility for a gear up landing because the "auto extender"
failed to protect the pilot who forgot/neglected/ it always worked before..
to personally extend the gear.

BT

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...
Roy Smith wrote:
In article bwc1c.12546$id3.4348@fed1read01,
"BTIZ" wrote:


BTW, I'm not sure about the older 180HP arrows, but most of the newer
Arrows
have the auto extend mechanism disabled by either an AD or a Service
Bulletin.


Why would you want to disable it?

So you can practice maneuvers near minimum airspeed without the gear
dropping,
so the gear doesn't drop when the gear extension pitot gets iced over
(it's not
heated). Of course, here we are talking about disabling it with the
cockpit
control, not by AD.

IIRC from my Piper-flying days, there was an AD to disable the
auto-extension,
then the AD was rescinded. While the AD was in effect, it was disabled on
some
airplanes and never re-enabled. So there's a mix of airplanes out there
with and
without the auto gear extension enabled.

On 3-Mar-2004, Dave Butler wrote:

Why would you want to disable it?

So you can practice maneuvers near minimum airspeed without the gear
dropping, so the gear doesn't drop when the gear extension pitot gets iced
over
(it's not heated). Of course, here we are talking about disabling it with
the
cockpit control, not by AD.

IIRC from my Piper-flying days, there was an AD to disable the
auto-extension, then the AD was rescinded. While the AD was in effect, it
was disabled on
some airplanes and never re-enabled. So there's a mix of airplanes out
there
with and without the auto gear extension enabled.


The gear extension pitot in our Arrow IV is heated. That aside, I don't
like the auto extension system for a number of reasons. I just leave it in
the override position for most operations.
--
-Elliott Drucker

A used plane reference book that I have indicated that the "auto-extend"
mechanism got a less than stellar pilot into trouble and he sued.

Apparently when he suffered an engine failure, he didnt 1) keep his
speed up or 2) engage the "override lock" feature (a slide pin on the
override lever). The gear came down, and the plane came down much
quicker than "planned". Of course, the gear system functioned EXACTLY as
it was designed.


With regards to the original poster in the thread, I have had a
gear-in-transit light illuminate when making yellow-arc descents in
200hp Arrows (both with and without the "auto-extend" feature). My CFI
at the time attributed it to the slipstream pulling/sucking against the
recessed (but not enclosed) main gear just enough to open/close the
switch connected to the gear unsafe light.


Dave

Roy Smith wrote:
In article bwc1c.12546$id3.4348@fed1read01,
"BTIZ" wrote:


BTW, I'm not sure about the older 180HP arrows, but most of the newer Arrows
have the auto extend mechanism disabled by either an AD or a Service
Bulletin.


Why would you want to disable it?

I have mine manually disabled, I do it because I dont like the gear comming down
untill I am ready and I like putting it up when I am ready.

Roy Smith wrote:

In article bwc1c.12546$id3.4348@fed1read01,
"BTIZ" wrote:

BTW, I'm not sure about the older 180HP arrows, but most of the newer Arrows
have the auto extend mechanism disabled by either an AD or a Service
Bulletin.

Why would you want to disable it?