Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 22; Flight Crew Total 7700; Flight Crew Type 14.4
Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting; Workload; Training / Qualification
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Excursion Runway; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
This homebuilt aircraft was built in the early 90s and sat for 15 years after it was flown at Oshkosh.  I purchased it and annualed it with the builder.  I flew it after all those years and it flew well. However; it has a homebuilt powered nose wheel steering system for low speeds.I took off the other day and heard a loud band on after liftoff.  I thought a tire had blown and approached it as such.  I stayed calm to assess the situation and flew the airplane smoothly.  My thoughts were to burn as much fuel out of airplane as possible before landing especially out of wings totally.  This would allow a slower approach speed on landing to minimize potential damage to us and aircraft.  I accomplished this and called Unicom to alert fire department in case of problem on landing with an unknown outcome.  I touched down slow and as soft as possible and held nose up high as long as possible.  Air braking is normal on this aircraft and is effective.  Finally; the nose came down and as soon as it did the aircraft veered hard left and stayed that way in spite of full right rudder and braking.We came to a stop and exited aircraft quickly after shutting systems down.We have a takeoff video clearly showed the nose gear going full left after liftoff prevent it from fully retracting into nose gear well.  It has never malfunctioned before this event and has been reliable up until this day.  I am thankful no one was injured and there was no fire after the rollout with nose gear stuck full left.  I can't say I would do anything different as I handled it the best I could by burning the fuel in the wings (transferring the fuel to center tank) and reducing my kinetic energy for landing as much as possible.  Some precautions for any pilot operating experimental homebuilt aircraft are just that. Realize that systems are sometimes homemade and the components might be old even before they are installed on aircraft before first flight.  Thus; there could be corrosion or degraded rubber gaskets on pistons and actuators.  Finally; even though I have an ATP and thousands of hours flying large jets; I think that reading and absorbing what is in Bob Hoover's book 'Forever Flying' could be helpful to any pilot.  He was in many difficult situations - sometimes hopeless - and always managed to get the aircraft down and stay alive. Energy management and minimizing it before ground contact is something Mr. Hoover was an expert at.  Staying cool under pressure and assessing the systems available and inoperative after a noticeable malfunction is something Mr. Hoover was an expert at.  I am thankful to have read his book and got to know him over the years. I highly recommend his book to every pilot.  He is an American Hero that has truly ridden out many crippled aircraft - and lived to tell about it.I feel that every flight in an aircraft is a test flight because of the unknown variables involved and to occasionally expect the unexpected.  I also recommend that there should be foam blocks placed around AWOS systems placed next to runway at airports. These are electrified hazards to aircraft that can cause damage to an aircraft as well as an aircraft fire if not properly cushioned or placed farther from runway.  After looking at the aircraft in the hangar; the mechanics were confident I could get it flying and said that he would call it an incident as the flight controls and flaps still worked and surmised that the minimal damage was repairable.
An experimental jet's nose gear turned full left after lift off preventing the nose gear from retracting so an emergency was declared. On landing the aircraft veered hard left but caused minimal damage.