That one time a Cessna 172's nose gear wouldn't retract over Phoenix

It was a Tuesday last month, and I was doing a pre-buy inspection on a 172 for a client. The pilot wanted a quick gear swing check. We got it up on jacks, cycled the gear, and the nose gear just... hung there. No warning light, no weird sounds. Found out the up-lock actuator had a tiny internal leak we only spotted because of a faint oily streak on the housing. Took us three hours to trace and confirm it. Anyone else run into a gear issue that gave no real signs before it just stopped working?

3 comments

3 Comments

keith_rivera191mo ago

Honestly, that sounds like a pretty clear sign to me. A visible leak is a warning, even a faint one. Gear systems fail from slow leaks all the time before a total loss of function. Maybe the real issue is that pre-flight checks don't usually involve looking for oily streaks on actuators. So it's less about no signs, and more about the signs being in a spot we aren't trained to check daily.

mila_harris1mo ago

Reminds me of a slow coolant drip my old car had, hidden up under a panel.

the_alice1mo ago

The actuator leak point actually makes a lot of sense to me now.