A special surprize for me was seeing the new electric driven retracts and actuators at the Robart Booth. Doug Scatterday and Dennis Brooks were on hand showing the gear to the public. Not just an electric motor and a jack screw added to drive the trunion, these new gear have a very impressive set up. The specially designed actuator has a driven barrel that spins around a fixed threaded shaft that’s attached to the drive arm of the gear. The unit is about the same weight of a typical pneumatic acuator but the simple control box and wiring hookups greatly simplifies aircraft set up and increases reliability!
The gear is available with the electric drive and the actuators can be used to retrofit older retracts.