Cozy Mk 3/ Long Eze Nose Gear

[tonyrothwell]

URGENTLY REQUIRED

 

Folks I landed cozy-3 VH-COZ at Longreach in the outback of western Queensland, Australia in a crosswind and sheared the nose gear fork right off on Easter Sunday.

 

So far I have not made it back home but what I need rather urgently is the swivelling nose gear assembly and the fork. Front wheel and axle are OK and so is the nosegear strut. If my tired old memory serves me correctly we could be talking NG-15A but its the swivel and fork assembly for a Long-EZ or Cozy-3.

 

Anyone able to help please email tonyrothwell@grapevine.net.au with details. May take me a day to reply since I have ridden the dog for 17 hours and have 6 hours driving plus a two hour flight to get home!!!!

 

Thanks lots, Tony Rothwell

[Jon Matcho]

Oy (I hope I used that right...)

Sorry to hear about your troubles Tony.

I'm not sure what part number it is either, but you can try these two places:

http://www.cozygirrrl.com/aircraftparts.htm (tall page)

http://www.eznoselift.com/pricelist.html

Hope that helps!

[tonyrothwell]

Gidday Mate,

 

Thanks Jon. Have now made it home, looked in the plans and it is NG-16 installed in NG-17 that I need. Followed your lead and emailed Jack this evening.

 

It's the nose gear fork and the bottom half of the swivel for a MK -3 or Long Eze that I need; will wait Jack's reply before I chase around more widely.

 

Hooroo, Tony

[tonyrothwell]

Conclusion:

 

Jon reminded me of Jack's manufacturing business; Jack has a whole assembly in stock - Pay Pal works really quickly and I should have the parts all the way from SC to Canberra Australia in 3 days guaranteed - well lets say a week or so anyway! Wonderful service.

 

Tony

[Jon Matcho]

Glad to hear everything worked out with the fix Tony. Soon you'll have nothing more than a bruised ego...

 

Can you tell us a bit more about the landing, and what you might have done differently?

[tonyrothwell]

Hi Jon,

 

Yep, friend with a few hours on the aircraft was flying and he had set up the approach not really lined up with the centerline; Cross wind from the right. At the last minute I SHOULD have called for him to go around but didn't, I tried to drop the right wing to stop the drift. I was too successful and hit the nosewheel hard sideways. The fork broke off completely and we skidded to a halt on what was left of the lower part of the swivel. Very fortunate that nothing hit the MT three blade constant speed prop.

 

The lesson is the same old one;

 

Do not try and rescue a crap approach; go around and do it right.

 

Murphy of course got into the act; I had planned about 14 legs over easter but Longreach was by far the furthest from home so of course that was where it happened! You'll find it (YLRE) on Google Earth in outback Queensland - the place with a B747 outside the museum to the founders of Qantas Airlines - and you can figure out how they landed a Jumbo on a 100 ft wide runway!!

 

http://www.qfom.com.au/

 

will take you to the web site and a whole raft of interesting history - and the reason we went there.

 

See you all at OSH 07, Tony