10/21/2022 –
Determined to squeeze one more flying weekend into the 2022 year, Bob, Jake and I planned a quick weekend trip to Omaha, Nebraska to visit the Strategic Air Command Museum. Unfortunately, Jake would have to skip this flight due to a leaking water line he needed to attend to. Ella had the day off from school, so we planned to leave about Noon. Bob would depart when he finished work and meet us in Omaha at Millard Airport. It’s a short hour and a half flight from St. Cloud, so we anticipated being there early enough to sort a rental car and hotel by the time Bob arrived.
The flight down went as expected and soon we were setting up to land at Millard. There’s a single runway there with light winds favoring runway 30. We flew a standard pattern for runway 30, and as we’re turning final saw a plane taxing out for a departure on runway 12. There are only 3 exits from the 3800 foot runway, one at each end and one in the middle. I commented that I hoped he was stopping at the runup area so we could still exit the runway. But instead, as we touched down I saw the other aircraft turning from the parallel taxiway onto runway ingress/egress. Arrgh. Once I lowered the nosewheel onto the runway I got on the brakes pretty hard in order to hopefully make the exit at midfield. It was looking like we should be slow enough to make it, when all of the sudden there was a bang and the nose hit the ground. At that point we stopped in a matter of a few yards. I announced that we had a gear collapse and that we would be egressing the aircraft. I then shut the engine down, turned off the fuel and all electrics and proceeded to get Christine and Ella out of the plane and off the runway.
Once out, I picked up the nose and it appeared that the nose gear strut and broken free of the NG6 pivot at the top. I quickly moved the plane off onto the taxiway and by this point a number of people from the FBO were driving down the taxiway to assist us. Upon further inspection I found that the nose gear strut was intact, the NG6 pivot bearing was intact, but the nuts had stripped off the bolts that hold the two together. There was minimal cosmetic damage to the nose parking bumper / skid plate, minor cosmetic damage to the nose strut cover and no damage to the rest of the fuselage structure. If we could procure new bolts and nuts, we’d be able to repair it in less than an hour.
The FBO didn’t have the hardware we needed but they did offer to let us put the plane in one of the hangars so we could work on it more easily. That was incredibly helpful, as luckily, Bob had the hardware and could bring it to us but it was going to be after sunset by the time he arrived (days are short by October). We then went about getting the rental car and the hotel sorted, then stopped by a liquor store on our way back to the airport to meet up with Bob.
Christine and I began preparations for repair by finding suitable blocks to hole the nose up and then proceeding to remove the nose gear strut and NG6 from the plane so we could get them bolted back together. At this point we found the root cause of the problem. The plans specified bolts were not long enough for our install. Variances in builder tolerances sometime result in certain parts being a touch thicker or thinner. What I should have done when installing this was to ensure that there were at least a couple of threads were showing past the end of the lock nut. Fortunately, Bob was bringing slightly longer bolts for us.
Bob arrived and we set straight to work reattaching the strut to NG6 and then reinstalling the entire assembly. It didn’t take long and we probably spent more time chatting and laughing than we did working. Celebratory pre-mixed Mai Thais were perfect for the occasion. We then set off for dinner and went back to the hotel for some sleep.
The next morning we went the Strategic Air Command Museum and spent hours admiring all the cool planes. The SR71 perched at the entrance makes a pretty striking impression as you walk through the door. Late that afternoon when we finished at the museum we did some trail hiking at a park along the Platt River. After dinner, a quick look at the TAF indicated that winds were going to pick up dramatically in the later morning hours (>60kts), so we opted for an early bed time to make an early departure.
Sunday morning we got back to the airport, loaded the plane and set out for the grueling 90 minute flight home. 🙂 I made certain to set the nose wheel down gently on landing. All was fine, and the next weekend we completed the cosmetic repairs as well. Despite the mishap, we had a great time.
