FAA Issues a Special Landing Gear Airworthiness Information Bulletin for Mooney M20 Series
Posted by BAS | Aircraft Salvage Experts on Mar 22nd 2023
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) on March 3 for all owners, operators, and maintenance personnel handling the Mooney M20 series. According to the SAIB, owners, operators, and maintenance personnel of Mooney models M20, M20A, M20B, M20C, M20D, M20E, M20F, M20G, M20J, M20K, M20L, M 20M, M20R, M20S, M20TN, M20U, and M20V airplanes are informed of an airworthiness concern regarding the landing gear failures of the listed aircraft models.
Mooney International Corporation has consistently worked with the FAA to ensure Mooney aircraft owners, operators, and technicians comply with standard safety requirements. The landing gear failures reportedly trail back to March 14, 2014, when the FAA issued a SAIB (SAIB CE-14-12) after receiving multiple incidents of landing gear failures on the M20 series airplanes.
Why are M20 Series Airplanes experiencing Landing Gear Failures?
In the SAIB CE-14-12, the FAA confirmed that most landing gear failures experienced at the time were related to improper maintenance practices by technicians, aging, functional deterioration, inadequate or substandard inspections, and rigging requirements and procedures in applicable maintenance instructions.
Upon further investigations, the FAA recommended that owners and operators of Mooney M20, M20A, M20B, M20C, M20D, M20E, M20F, M20G, M20J, M20K, M20L, M20M, M20R, M20S, and M20TN airplanes comply with Mooney Service Instruction M20-122, issued on December 12, 2013 (SI M20 -122). The Mooney Service Instruction dictates that the involved personnel strictly follow the 100-Hour Inspection Guide and Service and Maintenance Manual instructions at each annual (100-hour) inspection.
After the SAIB CE-14-12 and Mooney Service Instruction M20-122 were issued, you would expect the incidents would reduce, right? However, this is not the case. Instead, landing gear failure incidents have continuously increased in manual and electric landing gear installations on the listed aircraft models. As a result of the deteriorating condition, Mooney issued another Service Bulletin on November 28, 2022 (SB M20-344) to improve the situation and reduce the risks associated with the landing gear.
The SB M20-344 advised aircraft owners, operators, and technicians on how to safely operate and maintain manual and electric-driven landing gears on the subject aircraft models with the following recommendations:
- The SB obliged owners and operators to strictly comply with SI M20-122 by conducting annual (100-hour) inspections and following the Mooney Maintenance Manual instructions.
- The SB also mandated owners and operators to review the Mooney Service Bulletin issued in 2022, M20-344, for further compliance.
For Mooney M20 series airplanes equipped with the Johnson Bar landing gear, the FAA gave further recommendations:
- The operators should ensure that the tension on each gear is within the operating specifications.
- The owners should also ensure that retraction components are frequently lubricated and in good condition.
- The FAA recommended that owners rig the landing gear correctly during routine maintenance procedures.
Landing Gear Failure Incident Reporting
In case an incident with the landing gear occurs, the operator should report the occurrence to the FAA with additional information on the Airplane make/model/type and/or registration number, the type of landing gear system installed, and the last date of routine maintenance on the landing gear system. The SAIB also encouraged public comments on the information bulletin, including suggestions and general recommendations from the public to aid in reducing this growing landing gear challenge.