landing gear

[fred colman]

hello Kitfoxers
has any one had,or has heard of, the tube on the suspension(the one that the bungees wrap around) snapping .Unfortunatly for me I had an engine failure (582) at about 100ft after take off.The landing was in a snow covered planted field (soft) and was going well( I thought ) untill the port under carrage colapsed.The aforsaid tube snapped right next to the bungee.There is no sign of rust,and it is a fairly clean break.I would have thought the bungee would have given up first,any comments on this issue would be welcome.

[Av8r3400]

What vintage plane is this? Did it break at the weld or did the tube itself break? Was it the angled tube going down to the axle or the cross tube that the bungees are wrapped on?


(For the record, I'm glad you were able to walk away, unhurt. It could have been much worse...)

[t j]

Fred, yes there have been a few tube gear failures. Here is a link to a service letter the old Skystar put out on the tube gear.
http://www.kitfoxaircraft.com/support/service_letters/sl48.htm

It mentions pictures attached which don't seem to be there. I have an electronic copy of this service letter with the pictures and some drawings attached. I tried to attach those to this post with no luck. If you would like to see them let me know and I will figure out a way to get them to you.

Glad you didn't get hurt. Kitfoxes are easy to fix. Speaking from experience.

Tom Jones

[t j]

Fred, here's a link to the landig gear service letter with the photos and drawing included. http://kitfox.lazair.com/Service_Letters/sl48.htm
Tom Jones

[fred colman]

Thanks to t j and Av8r3400 for replys,kind words, and very usefull information.The cross tube on my (Kitfox mk2 1991)broke right next to the bungee as described in service leter,mabe they could be beefed up a little.Fortuneatley there isnt a great deal of damage but it will be hard to trust this old engine again,might have to bite the bullet and get a new one
thanks again