During the summe of 2010, my homebuilt, Melmoth 2, which had been flying for almost eight years, began to display a mystifying symptom. As I turned off the runway after landing, the main landing gear oleo on the outside of the turn would seem to collapse. The wing on that side would slump toward the ground, and because Melmoth’s wings have relatively little dihedral and are completely wet from root to tip, fuel would sometimes even dribble out of the tank vent at the wingtip. Once or twice the local controller at my home field told me that I had a flat tire, but after seeing me taxi off listing drunkenly to starboard a few times, he must have decided that nobody could have that many flat tires.
But here was the bizarre thing: As I continued to taxi, the strut would slowly return to its normal height.
