buttman wrote:
gah. I meant to say the Arrow has 1 gear that was stuck up, and the
other two were down. After the bouceing (which I have never heard of
anyone doing), the two that he was able to get down, were then stuck
in the down position. I was always under the impression that it's
better to land on the plan's belly (with no gear down) than it is to
land with only 2 of the 3 gear down.


Having done it, I speak from experience: yes, it's better simply because you
have less chance to damage something. The only real difference is that when you
run out of rudder authority, you're going to turn no matter what you do. If I
had it to do over again, I'd line up on the opposite side of the runway so I'd
have more room to swing. Whichever gear doesn't come down... that's the way
you're going to turn.

All in all, it's pretty much a non-event. The media makes it out to be an
emergency but I'd call it a nuisance at most. You're not going to fly it again
for a while but nobody is likely to get hurt.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com