Yeah those breakers go bad after a while, due to them being thermal so they run warm under any significant load.
I re-did my CB panel in 2018 (had to, to make room for more of them) and replaced the whole lot. However, one wonders sometimes…
@Caoitaine
We did consider landing with all three retracted but I know the plane really well and was pretty sure I could pull off an “aircraft carrier landing” on the mains and keep the nose up ’tiil a very low speed – I judged that least likely to damage me, and the aircraft and Terrence rather presciently said “it might even lock down when we hit the bump!”- particularly since I know well that bump at the beginning of runway 24 (I trained there) so would have had to land longer to avoid risk of flipping….
…then I realised since I couldn’t get the circuit breaker to stay… raising the two wheels was not an option anyway lol
Engineers have now tested the gear pump and it turns out fine… the circuit breaker itself seems to be the fault! Interestingly I found a reference to a similar incident where this was also the case. New breaker on order – Watch this space !
Wow! Well done Neal. Stressful enough just reading about it 
You clearly did everything right. Out of interest, did you consider landing with all three retracted?
I’ll be reading my POH tonight
The system can and should be tested in flight. Pull the gear CB, wait a minute, then pull the emergency lever. If the gear doesn’t come down, it needs better maintenance
Overall the system is very reliable, but maintenance has always been a huge problem in GA. Nobody likes greasing things, when liquid lube is much easier. I used to get the Annual done at one place and then flew to another airport where for £300 another company did the landing gear properly!
A TB20 should do about 120kt with gear down.
do you think setting flaps and gear at the same time (eg “top of drop” in IR procedures) reduces life of either component?
No, but doing them separately reduces the peak current demand. What this is worth, who knows? The flap motor is a Renault or Citroen windscreen wiper motor so probably nothing It won’t affect their life.
Doing them separately also reduces the pitch change, which is a good idea. I tend to go to Flap 1 early on in the approach, to lose a bit of speed. At EGKA, say after NITEN; I often fly at 140-150kt up to that point, and possibly a lot more in ground speed.
Thanks David – interesting note on the gear partially up… and also Peter’s point above on how running the pump while pulling the Emergency lever causes damage…
I remember flying back from Gloucestershire that day in 2019 under 100kts with gear down and locked… it felt so slow!
I’ve also now heard from a THIRD TB20 owner who had an identical unlocked nose-gear which locked on landing incident.
Every day a learning day in GA!
Hi Neil. Yes, that’s me. I see from my logbook that we flew 12h30 in your aircraft in July 2019, covering off a wide range of IRR scenarios. Most of my IR instruction has been given in owner’s aircraft, but I can’t recall any other gear issues while instructing. Yours was undoubtedly the nicest and best equipped TB20 I’ve flown in.
I did once have the opposite problem with my own TB20 when the gear failed to raise properly – the nose gear did not fully retract. Tried recycling it without luck then flew back to base where I did have 3 greens. The mistake I made was flying back with the gear partially up which could have burnt out the gear pump. Subsequently found the problem was that the pump was cutoff before the gear had been retracted. I should have lowered the gear and just flown home a bit more slowly.
I’ll let others comment on the flaps/gear deployment simultaneously. I’ve heard some pilots/examiners are more cautious about that after take-off.
I assume you are the David that did my IR(R) refresher course at Gloucestershire a couple of years ago! In this case hi! You may remember being on board for my previous gear failure – but that time stuck down, due a worn cable, fixed in minutes once I got home.
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that each time we’ve had a gear problem has been after a week or more of intense training where the gear cycles dozens of times; the rest of the year it only goes up a couple of times a week. Do you get gear issues at Rate One on the TB20 you use for training?
Question to all forum members… do you think setting flaps and gear at the same time (eg “top of drop” in IR procedures) reduces life of either component? I was trained to do them consecutively but I’ve seen others do them together, arguing that one compensates for the other in terms of attitude.
Thanks for those links Peter
From memory the recommended Airsoeed is 97kt IAS
-Quick check of POH and relieved to say memory serves correctly :)
We were well below that over the fence and nose down but still no joy.
Well done Neal and thank you for your great report!
Yes there are lots of GA airfields where this sort of thing could easily total the plane.
The TB20/21 has no manual gear pump but it has a valve which bleeds the pressure in the system and the main gear drops under its own weight (unless poorly lubricated – a very long story in TB circles) while the nose gear uses two gas struts which are a “mandatory replacement” on every Annual (but many people don’t do that – another long story in TB circles, especially as they are only about 30 quid each).
Greasing the gear well is crucial.
Because the nose gear extends into the airflow, you have to fly slowly to make it lock. I don’t recall what the POH says (IIRC it is 80kt or so) but a TB20 can easily fly at 60kt, especially for a short time.
The videos here indicate when the pump may need changing or repairing, but you see that only on jacks, which you won’t see if it is done without you present.
Congratulations Neal on such an excellent outcome. I will remember that trick should my TB20 gear fail in this way in the future.
Just glad I flew home in my TB20 first this afternoon before reading this. It was strange to hear the tower asking if I had the gear down on final – I haven’t heard that for a while. Maybe they read about your experience today.
As you say, it makes a huge difference when you have a problem to be able to land at a fully equipped airfield with trained staff.
@172driver – the TB20 has an emergency gear release lever (more like a knob that pulls a cable) that basically just releases the hydraulic pressure holding the gear in the retracted position. You must then rock the aircraft a little to entice the wheels to lock down, helped by the pressure in the oleos. There isn’t any manual pump mechanism.
