62 MAY 2020 ÇPlane&Pilot
one more unexpected place for rubber to age out and
leave you in need of repairs.
There are no shock struts on a Mooney’s landing
gear, nor sprung steel landing gear legs nor bungee
shock absorbers. Al Mooney, for whatever reason,
drew up all three gear legs with a stack of rubber
donuts to take the impact of landing. A believable—but
unsubstantiated—rumor is that the original rubbers
he used on the landing gear were Mack Truck engine
mounts. Whether it’s true or not is no longer really a
matter of significance, as Mooney gear pucks have been
upgraded to an aviation product in the years since,
but the designer’s eye for simplicity in an off-the-shelf
solution rings true with so many other Mooney design
elements. Some of the later (much heavier) Mooneys
see these rubber pucks failing after just a year or two;
the lighter models, like mine, can go a decade or so
between replacement. I was reading a thread on a
Mooney owner’s forum in which a pilot discovered
his pucks were pretty darn old, and I made a note to
myself: “Self,” I thought, “The next time you go fly, look
for a date code on the landing gear donuts.”
The donuts didn’t look distorted or significantly
cracked, so I hadn’t paid them much mind before.
But they’re much of the airframe’s shock absorption
for my landings, and the runway where the gray gal
lives is unquestionably rough. An undesired side effect
as the pucks age and harden is the landing shock is
transmitted through the nearest airframe structure,
which happens to be the sealed bays of the wing that
make up the fuel tank. The older the fuel sealant gets,
the more brittle it becomes, and resealing the tanks is
close to a $7,000 job last I checked.So, the more I dwelled on it, the more important
checking the rubber donuts became. On my next pre-
flight, after draining the fuel sample from the right tank,
I rolled over and squinted at the pucks, looking for a date
code, hoping to at least see something produced this
century. Within the last decade
would be even better.
I turned my head sideways,
figuring the date code had to
be upside down. I squinted
until the world went dark, then
opened enough to let just a little
light through. I tried to read it
backward, forward, sideways
and in pig Latin, but the only
way I could make the date code
work was to admit the pain-
ful truth that the rubber on my
landing gear, the pieces that
really should be taking much
of the shock from repeatedly
planting this bird on the side of
a bumpy hill, were more than a
decade my senior, manufactured
in 1969.
Now, if I can just trick my
buddy into another Atlanta
overnight. PP- Gated fly-in community perfect for flying professionals
- Paved, lighted runway with instrument approaches
- No property tax on aircraft based in Ohio
- Municipal Water and Sewer
SANDY’S AIRPARKSANDY’S AIRPARK@ SPORTY’S@ SPORTY’S (800) 908-4359 • http://www.sandysairpark.com
- Building sites still available
- All underground public utilities
- Complete aircraft services
- Homes and hangars available
Minutes from Cincinnati
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For shock absorbers, the Mooney features rubber donuts that take
the load of the landing. They should be replaced regularly. These
were in dire need.