Hi,
I am sure, you know, I opt for the TBs, but I would like to help out one of my friends who experienced a nose-up situation during the take-off run on his Mooney M20K/231 YOM 1984. We all suspect the maintenance was negligent, so we shall collect some information to prove it.
The aircraft was stored for four years and, after a "kind of annual " inspection, was sold to my friend.
The inspector found that one of the two bunge was losing, so the only one remaining bungee could not support the nose gear. The expert told the police that the reason for the accident was that the secured nut was unwinding :) :), which caused the accident. I am sure; that 6 hours after that, such a thing does not happen.
The theory is that the nut unwinded from its bolt. See the attached pictures-
What do you think about that? Do you have a similar experience with this?
Zsolt
Video and photos about accident:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yegx408al9wyl56/AADKsD4_jjEg2ssTIlFMm7bza?dl=0
Not sure if this is what happened here, but you can expect this kind of occurrence when exceeding the nosegear turning radius under tow. Especially when towing with heavy equipment.
This is J-bar gear or electric gear?
I would be more inclined to think it’s either corrosion? or maintenance defect? that could have been aggravated by harsh tow or hard bumpy grass landings…
The nose gear in Mooney is connected to the main gears, the only way for it to collapse is all gear collapses or the arm to break
Landing Gear rigging is crucial on the Mooney. You need a special tool to set the correct torque. If this is not done correctly a take off from grass can lead to collaps of the landing gear. The nose gear truss on the Mooney is not the best to handle grass.
Yes landing on grass require good techniques or better just avoided but the comment on towing limits is also relevant, the placard is written on Mooney gear…
On towing, while ago we rented C177RG in Florida that we left at Exumas MYEF with Odysee handling, we were asked to leave it parking break OFF, on the way back they moved it and sweared to us it was using a small 2T GA tow not the 12T jet tow machines and guess what gear failed to retract on departure, I am glad only gear switch that gliteched and no metal has been bended, I was flying at C172 speeds & fuel burn and I was glad it landed OK: it was fun arriving VFR on ILS between thunderstorm with gear stuck down with all customs & firemans & mechanic waiting for you…the rental outfit made us a nice discount on price (they charged C172 hourly rate for the return flight not C177RG hourly rate 
)
The broken tubes were attached near the hinge of the drag brace, should be quite unaffected by exceeding the turn radius.
There is no downlock, only the tension from the command bars and springs. As the RHS is broken clean, I’d assume it is from the overload when the LHS bar disengaged and the gear collapsed.
These command bars are mounted via a screw and locknut, the screw is still in the plates with visible thread that looks long enough, although it has got some wear damage. Locknuts do not unscrew suddenly, that one has been half unscrewed for a while, or incorrectly re-tightened.
I vote maintenance defect. The guy who added grease to the LHS brace hinge in a “kind of annual” and did not verify all gear nuts were tight should find himself a new line of business.
