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To anyone who is facing an upcoming repack/replacement of their chute/rocket I HIGHLY SUGGEST having their A&P check the microswitch on the launch tube with a multimeter to ensure it functions as intended BEFORE INSTALLATION.

On my recent installation the microswitch was found to be defective after installation - which meant there was no way to retract the gear. Finding out after installation means that either the rocket has to be pulled back out or the switch has to be replaced while the new rocket remains in place. That's not an easy thing to do either way.

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The micro switch check is part of the maintenance manual for the rocket installation. They actually call for jacking the plane up before securing the rocket cap and making sure the gear falls when you remove the cap. I asked them to look into modifying the manual to allow for a node gear only check by pulling the fuse for the main gear. This is a lot easier than jacking the plane all you have to do is put the tail on the ground

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my point being that the micro switch needs to be check before any installation of the unit has begun

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That is an excellent point because you would have to take the whole assembly back out if you found out in the manual step

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I agree that jacking up the entire aircraft is overkill. The microswitch provides a single input into the software - so if the nose gear comes down the mains should also come down. Most A&Ps don't have jackpoint adapters that will fit the A5. I had to end up purchasing them myself for my A&P's use on my plane - and he was floored at the price I was charged. His response was something along the lines of that we could have gotten a local machine shop to turn four sets of them for us for the same cost. Of course that wouldn't include the R&D costs that Icon had to incur to produce them. (:

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I bought a pair of Jack points from Icon, after talking to Mandy. I believe they are the same as used on Mooney aircraft.