Had a main landing gear uplock actuator fail on a Cessna Citation last Thursday

It was one of those older hydraulic units, the kind you just don't see much anymore. I mean, everything is going electric or electro-mechanical now. This one just gave up the ghost, wouldn't hold pressure at all. We had to pull the whole assembly, which took about 8 hours with the rigging checks. It just got me thinking about how much simpler the systems used to be, even if they were a pain to bleed. Anyone else still dealing with these legacy hydraulic actuators, or are they all gone from your hangars?

3 comments

3 Comments

pat6392mo ago

Oh man, "gave up the ghost" is right. Sounds like that actuator just decided retirement started last Thursday. Eight hours for a pull and rig is a full day of remembering why we all hate bleeding those old systems. It's like they fail just to remind you of the good old bad old days. You find a replacement part or is that a whole new scavenger hunt?

grant.jade2mo ago

Feel your pain, those old hydraulics really know how to ruin a day.

leobrown19d ago

Hold on, I actually kinda miss the old hydraulic stuff... @grant.jade, maybe it's just me but at least you knew exactly what you were dealing with, these new electric actuators hide their failures in software and you're chasing gremlins for days.