T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
"Len" wrote:


The landing went extremely well. My instructor managed to hold the plane at
stall, and set it down as gently as was possible on the left gear first.
Lucky for us the right gear was locked, or at least held long enough for us
to land, taxi off the runway, and park.


Assuming the gear light remained red, did you consider
shutting down without taxiing off the runway? I'd feel
awfully stupid if the gear collapsed due to the side load as
I turned off the runway with the engines turning. What
about shutting down, inspecting/bracing the gear, then
getting a tow? I don't mean to second guess a successful
result, but I'm interested in your thought processes.

"It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill."
Wilbur Wright

Just a bit of clarification. We didn't have the red "gear unsafe light".
We only had two green lock lights. Part of the centerline check is the
'Three green lock lights, no red Gear Warning, and look in a mirror for
the nose gear'.

I agree with you, It probably would have been smarter to stop on the
runway or roll off on one of the high speed exit ramps, and then
shutdown to make sure the lock was engaged. I guess at that point we
didn't consider it, or figured if it could handle its share of the
3700lbs load on landing it would be alright.

In retrospect, I've been analyzing the landing gear system. I think the
fact that we didn't get the gear warning horn and the red gear warning
light was actually an indication that the gear was down. According to
the manual (which I'd like to confirm with the maintenance guys), "If
the gear is neither in the full up or full down position, a red WARN
GEAR UNSAFE annunciator at the top of the panel illuminates". If we
didn't have the red light, then the gear was down.

Oddly enough, I saw on the news that a pilot in Florida had the same
problem with his twin engine Cessna, however in his case the gear
collapsed. In the video he did an excellent job in controlling the
airplane, minimizing the damage-- including killing the engine on
touchdown. It even looks like he managed to avoid a prop strike. Check
out http://www.nbc6.net/news/4175769/detail.html