greg gfeller
Member
I feel the need to tell this story so others don't have to.
First of all a little context. I had been laid up with ankle surgery and had not flown for the past 3 months. My goal after being released to full weight bearing was to get my 12 back in the air before my condition inspection which expired February 1st and charge the Dynon back up battery so I could do the annual battery test. Excited to finally get back in the air on a clear cold January day I preflighted the plane, glanced at the tires (which always look low under the wheel pants and went flying). After getting the backup battery charged I returned to the airport and landed. Upon landing I noticed the plane decelerated faster than normal and taxied off the runway. While taxiing down the taxi way my plane made several 360 degree turns around my left main landing gear. I thought it was my brakes but instead it was my completely flat left main tire and I was grinding up and cracking my wheel pant. Laying on a cold frozen taxiway trying to remove my wheel pant was a total pain, but finally got it removed. Since I didn't have any appropriate way to jack up the wheel and was blocking the taxiway I was lucky the airport staff was able to assist me lifting the wing by the handhold on the end of the wing while I shoved a dolly underneath the flat wheel. Wasn't at all keen on how we lifted the airplane but all went well and towed the airplane back to the hangar. Turns out I spun the tube. So after a new tube, some fiberglass repair and color matched paint I am back in the air. It would have so much easier to lay on the cold hangar floor and check tire pressure before the flight!
First of all a little context. I had been laid up with ankle surgery and had not flown for the past 3 months. My goal after being released to full weight bearing was to get my 12 back in the air before my condition inspection which expired February 1st and charge the Dynon back up battery so I could do the annual battery test. Excited to finally get back in the air on a clear cold January day I preflighted the plane, glanced at the tires (which always look low under the wheel pants and went flying). After getting the backup battery charged I returned to the airport and landed. Upon landing I noticed the plane decelerated faster than normal and taxied off the runway. While taxiing down the taxi way my plane made several 360 degree turns around my left main landing gear. I thought it was my brakes but instead it was my completely flat left main tire and I was grinding up and cracking my wheel pant. Laying on a cold frozen taxiway trying to remove my wheel pant was a total pain, but finally got it removed. Since I didn't have any appropriate way to jack up the wheel and was blocking the taxiway I was lucky the airport staff was able to assist me lifting the wing by the handhold on the end of the wing while I shoved a dolly underneath the flat wheel. Wasn't at all keen on how we lifted the airplane but all went well and towed the airplane back to the hangar. Turns out I spun the tube. So after a new tube, some fiberglass repair and color matched paint I am back in the air. It would have so much easier to lay on the cold hangar floor and check tire pressure before the flight!