Very sorry to hear about that.
There are tons of things I’ve learned over the years, from the late Keith Diver and other owners, that aren’t actually in the manual, or the maintenance manual. Not operating on flat struts is one of those items.
Once you learn how the gear works (and the importance of properly inflated struts to grab the inner gear door bail, among other things) you understand better about proper operation and issues that will pop up.
In addition to the revised maintenance manual, we’ve also created a relatively small informational PDF that includes things like inspection items, parts sources and helpful people (CFIs, A&Ps, insurance brokers, etc…). We’ve also created revised checklists for various phases of operation from pre-flight to shut-down. Perhaps a new document of all the things we’ve learned which aren’t in any documents might be helpful.
I’ve been trying to add these newly revised documents to the website but I’m having some issues doing that. In the meantime, if anyone wants these documents, please let me know and I’ll share them with you directly.