Hi Gary,

I'm with Gary. The ideas is to do your checklist (including an airbrake
check) as you enter the pattern. If your gear is down at that point you
will hear a voice telling you very clearly and repeatedly "landing gear is
up, lower landing gear" and you will fix the problem on downwind.

I think main thing this discussion has done is show that many people don't
do thorough downwind checklists.

Certainly, no gadget is going to help some pilots and it is true that last
minute distractions are to be avoided - so test your airbrakes on downwind
after "lowering" your landing gear and the problem will go away. If you
have changed your gear from down to up you will hear a warning to lower your
gear.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde

"Gary Emerson" wrote in message
om...
Mark Dickson wrote:
At 22:36 16 November 2005, Gary Emerson wrote:

So does the BGA recommend to use a pre-landing checklist
where the

spoilers are checked? If the spoilers are checked
early in the pattern then the logic regarding gear warning systems is not
very logical.



Yes, pre-landing checks are carried out; they include
checking the gear is down. If you do the checks your
gear shouldn't be up on approach. If you don't do
the checks you wouldn't have checked either gear or
airbrakes and you'll be distracted on approach by the
buzzer. You don't need a buzzer; just carry out your
checks.



For most, the gear warning buzzer will only be heard when pulling spoilers
at altitude to intentionally descend. However, it's a nice feature to
have on that day when you left the gear down the whole flight. You won't
find this mistake on short final, but most likely very early on in the
pattern where it's a quick fix and not likely to add extra risk in the
landing phase.