"No more runway to land, gear coming up," I said aloud while simultaneously activating the gear lever. I felt and heard the gear as it came up, and everything seemed normal, so I focused my attention to the task of flying a multiengine airplane in the clouds.
"It usually goes out by now," I said to myself as my scan indicated that the red "Gear Unsafe" warning light was still on. Looking in the mirror on the left engine cowling, I could see that the nosewheel was retracted and we were climbing normally. I decided to wait to announce the problem until we were on top of the overcast and could get some light on the subject. Once in bright daylight, I told Jim that we had a gear-unsafe light, and we needed to get out the pilot's operating handbook and find the requisite checklists. He notified So Cal Approach of our predicament, and they cleared us to 4,000 feet and vectored us toward the outer marker. After verifying that all the switches and knobs were in their proper places, I moved the landing gear lever to the "down" position. Nothing happened. The light stayed on, the gear stayed up.
"Descend and maintain 3,000," was the next instruction from So Cal. I reduced power to start a slow descent and prepare for an emergency gear extension. "Gear lever, down, remove retaining wire, and pull the red knob," Jim read aloud. I did, and almost immediately the gear thunked into the "down" position. I began to breathe a little easier, knowing that the gear was down and gravity still worked. I looked for the three green lights and saw that the mains were down and locked, but the nosegear light was off. It was down - I could see it in the mirror - but not locked. But the big red "Gear Unsafe" light was still on!
"Turn right, heading 170 degrees, maintain 3,000 'til established, cleared ILS Runway 19R," So Cal said. By now we were in the overcast again and turning to capture the localizer.
Jim performed the prelanding checklist, and the tower invited us to do a fly-by where they would check to see that all the wheels were in the right place. We accepted the invitation, and I flew the ILS down to 500 feet and leveled off. As we passed the tower radioed that the wheels appeared to be down, but they could not see if they were locked.
I applied full power, climbed to pattern attitude, and prepared to make a landing with questionable nosegear. Downwind, slow to blue-line plus 10. Final approach was looking good. Jim pointed out the firetrucks that had appeared on the apron. I tried not to take this display of life-saving machinery as a reflection of my flying abilities.
Over the fence, we checked that the prop and mixture were forward and the gear was down (the $64,000 question). Now only seconds remained before we would see the true condition of the nosewheel.
"Land as slowly as possible on the mains, then hold that position until the nose touches," I said to myself. As if on butter, the main wheels slid onto the cement. It was one of those landings that make even the worst flight a good one. As soon as the mains touched, the "Gear Unsafe" light went off, and the nosegear green light illuminated. We taxied to the maintenance hangar and shut down. A blue airport truck rolled up, and the fellow inside asked a few questions about the problem. He was very nice, but I worried when he asked for my name and pilot certificate number. He said the information was just for airport records.
After he had what he wanted, the man in the blue truck left, and the man in the hangar came out. I explained what had happened, and he postulated that the squat switch had failed in the open condition, thus rendering the gear lever inoperative. We later found out that the switch was OK - it was the hydraulic pump that had failed.
We left the airplane there, and Jim and I went to get breakfast. We discussed the flight and agreed that this problem couldn't have picked a better time to happen. Two pilots, flying an airplane in which both were instrument-rated and current, during daylight hours near an airport with great-looking firetrucks! The situation could easily have been much worse.
