Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This...

Today was a typical Friday. An attempted student flight killed off by low ceilings, burgers on the grill at Glenndale for lunch, chit chat, and my usual duties for the day, both domestic and entrepreneurial.

A good portion of today several of our guys were spending time trying to figure out what went wrong with the Bellanca last night. I flew the 340 to Illinois, and Steve C. came and got me and Dustin in Illinois in the Viking. Dustin flew home, me right seat, Steve back seat. As we landed, we had three in the green (which indicates that all three wheels were down and "locked"). Unfortunately one of them didn't stay that way, for reasons yet undetermined, and our right main landing gear folded up under us, causing us to skid to an inglorious stop on the runway. Nobody hurt, minimal damage to the airplane. I killed the engine and raised the flaps, but didn't get to the flaps fast enough to prevent all damage to the right one. Fortunately any other damage was cosmetic-paint scrapes on the wingtip, etc. It took a while to get the airplane back on its "feet" and tugged back to a hangar, and it was really cold and dark out there, but mostly we're grateful that it failed at home and not over in Illinois, and that the prop and engine didn't take a hit, saving a whole lot of time and money...