At 16:42 18 November 2005, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Don Johnstone wrote:
At 03:42 18 November 2005, Wayne Paul wrote:


Or a Radio Shack piezo buzzer (smoke alarm.) In fact
it is so loud that I
mounted it in a sound attenuation box.

It is actuated when flap setting is greater then 40
degrees and gear is up.


and if that goes off at 50 feet on a marginal final
glide when you have kept the glider clean to get onto
the field?

I'm sure Wayne will tell you why this isn't a problem.
But, how can we
avoid the problem suggested by the question?

You can't if a warning is fitted and I accept that
in some cases it will never be a problem because of
aircraft/approach type.
Malfunctioning warnings: one that goes off when it
shouldn't shortly
before touch down seems so rare it's not worth worrying
about. Gear
warnings save enough damage and blocked runways that
I think they add
more safety than this situation subtracts.

It is not just a malfunction even a real warning at
that height can distract enough from 'flying the aeroplane'
to turn an incident into a serious crash. I have never
heard of anyone being seriously injured or killed as
the result of a wheels up. There have been accidents
involving serious injury as the result of undercarriage
warnings.

Pilots that don't check their spoilers until close
to the ground: this
seems like a training issue or self-discipline issue,
either about
pre-landing checks, or very marginal returns to the
airport.

Marginal glides are very common in competitions.

Pilots who react poorly to a gear warning when low:
perhaps this can be
handled as a training issue. I've seen several pilots
extend their gear
safely at the last moment (less that 50' above the
ground) and land
normally, and never seen an accident from doing that,
so it's possible
to do, even with pilots not trained and ready for it.
Perhaps pilots
with gear warnings should occasionally practice this
at altitude,
opening the spoilers with the gear up, then lowering
the gear.

There is a world of difference between deliberately
leaving the gear selection to very late to achieve
the best glide and being startled by a sudden loud
noise in the cockpit. It is the unexpected and the
'instinctive' reaction that is the root of the problem.

The best
procedure for dealing with the warning when close to
the ground could be
selected (just put the gear down, or maybe close the
spoilers first, or
even 'ignore the damn thing and land on the belly').

The last is the only option imo which begs the question...........