Recently we have seen a string of aircraft landing gear failures where aircraft have come in with one of the landing gear in an inappropriate position, turned side ways or only half way down. There was an Airbus, which landed and sent sparks flying on its nose gear at LAX. The Nike Gulfstream had an issue and luckily the service department at the Gulfstream Corporation was able to get on the horn and figure it out in-flight. There was a King Air which recently landed on its belly in the South and about 14 other not so notable but serious incidents in the last year. None of these incidents or accidents caused loss of life, yet one has to wonder if they maybe connected in some way? I believe they are and some may call this a routine conspiracy theory, yet it appears to this pilot that they are all in fact related. How so you ask? Well let me explain my understanding of the matter and some recent aviation changes, which are in question. First all landing gears use hydraulics and hydraulics require fluid. All the aircraft, which had the problems use hydraulic fluid and are capable of flying above 12,500 feet. That is the point pressurization is necessary and required in aircraft unless you have oxygen masks onboard for the pilots. Temperature decreases at approximately two-degrees per thousand feet. On a cold day it is even colder up where these aircraft fly. The FAA made some changes due to the EPAs requirements for disposal of hydraulic fluids. These changes to protect the environment may have changed the properties of the fluid enough to cause excessive wear inside the hydraulic cylinders, lines or other components due to the cold-hot-cold issues and deterioration of the lubrication properties. Could it be that the government bureaucracy is threatening our skies? Could it be it is the governments fault again? So far no one has died? Will our luck last or are thousands of aircraft flying around now with faulty landing gear due to the failure of the FAA and EPA to establish proper regulations to protect us? If governments number one job is to protect the people, why do they keep putting us in danger? Bureaucrats and Lawyers are about to have a field day as some poor citizen loses his life so they can have job security and make more laws to cover up the ones which are already in bureaucrat error not pilot error so perhaps we all ought to be asking the tougher questions, think on this. |
