Gear warnings

I have paid out of my pocket for several gear up landings by renter
pilots. I know they have the best intent. Rather than require more
insurance, I would prefer a better warning system.
Since I can not hear most warning horns (old ears) I would like to
have a stick vibrator, ( maybe that is off the shelf) a big flashing
light or an explosion. My wallet hurts, and teaching USTALL doesn't
seem to work.
Of all the students I have personally taught, I am the first...Yea,
Me. I landed on the belly while my passenger was having a panic
attack. Maybe the explosion would have gotten my attention.
For me, this is a serious request. Air brake handle markers have been
tried, but the renter pilot seems to forget to install them.
Please also tell me how to get my instructors to teach traffic
scanning. A friend and I had to take a shower and clean up both seats
yesterday. Four eyes, both activically scanning, gave a brief moment
that allowed a close encounter rather than planting a lot of glass
below.
They are very nice people and I love them, so maybe some words to me
would help keep my friends and me both flying.
Fred R.

Two thoughts.

Stick shakers can be made with the little vibrator motors from cell phones
or pagers. They come in a wide range of sizes. Electronic parts suppliers
sell them for a few dollars.

The other thought is from a guy I knew who rented Mooneys and, like you,
suffered from renter pilots who forget the rollers. His solution was to add
skids to the belly. The engine and prop still suffered but the airframe
didn't so he could get the airplane back on revenue status in a few days.

Adding a light, tough HMWPE plastic skid to a glider would save the
fiberglass. Sacrificing $10 worth of HMWPE is better than $4000 worth of
gelcoat and fiberglass and replacing it would be an hour job. A skid two
inches wide and .5" thick should do the job and it wouldn't weigh more than
a couple of pounds.

Bill D


"fred" wrote in message
...
I have paid out of my pocket for several gear up landings by renter
pilots. I know they have the best intent. Rather than require more
insurance, I would prefer a better warning system.
Since I can not hear most warning horns (old ears) I would like to
have a stick vibrator, ( maybe that is off the shelf) a big flashing
light or an explosion. My wallet hurts, and teaching USTALL doesn't
seem to work.
Of all the students I have personally taught, I am the first...Yea,
Me. I landed on the belly while my passenger was having a panic
attack. Maybe the explosion would have gotten my attention.
For me, this is a serious request. Air brake handle markers have been
tried, but the renter pilot seems to forget to install them.
Please also tell me how to get my instructors to teach traffic
scanning. A friend and I had to take a shower and clean up both seats
yesterday. Four eyes, both activically scanning, gave a brief moment
that allowed a close encounter rather than planting a lot of glass
below.
They are very nice people and I love them, so maybe some words to me
would help keep my friends and me both flying.
Fred R.

Fred,

Simply replace your current horn with an inexpensive Radio Shack
pizo-crystal buzzer. If you can hear you home smoke detector you will hear
the gear warning. Hopefully you will not get confused and think your glider
is on fire.

Wayne
flying a pizo-crystal buzzer equipped HP-14
http://www.soaridaho.com



"fred" wrote in message
...
I have paid out of my pocket for several gear up landings by renter
pilots. I know they have the best intent. Rather than require more
insurance, I would prefer a better warning system.
Since I can not hear most warning horns (old ears) I would like to
have a stick vibrator, ( maybe that is off the shelf) a big flashing
light or an explosion. My wallet hurts, and teaching USTALL doesn't
seem to work.
Of all the students I have personally taught, I am the first...Yea,
Me. I landed on the belly while my passenger was having a panic
attack. Maybe the explosion would have gotten my attention.
For me, this is a serious request. Air brake handle markers have been
tried, but the renter pilot seems to forget to install them.
Please also tell me how to get my instructors to teach traffic
scanning. A friend and I had to take a shower and clean up both seats
yesterday. Four eyes, both activically scanning, gave a brief moment
that allowed a close encounter rather than planting a lot of glass
below.
They are very nice people and I love them, so maybe some words to me
would help keep my friends and me both flying.
Fred R.

On Nov 19, 10:58 pm, "Wayne Paul" wrote:
Fred,

Simply replace your current horn with an inexpensive Radio Shack
pizo-crystal buzzer. If you can hear you home smoke detector you will hear
the gear warning. Hopefully you will not get confused and think your glider
is on fire.

Wayne
flying a pizo-crystal buzzer equipped HP-14http://www.soaridaho.com

"fred" wrote in message

...



I have paid out of my pocket for several gear up landings by renter
pilots. I know they have the best intent. Rather than require more
insurance, I would prefer a better warning system.
Since I can not hear most warning horns (old ears) I would like to
have a stick vibrator, ( maybe that is off the shelf) a big flashing
light or an explosion. My wallet hurts, and teaching USTALL doesn't
seem to work.
Of all the students I have personally taught, I am the first...Yea,
Me. I landed on the belly while my passenger was having a panic
attack. Maybe the explosion would have gotten my attention.
For me, this is a serious request. Air brake handle markers have been
tried, but the renter pilot seems to forget to install them.
Please also tell me how to get my instructors to teach traffic
scanning. A friend and I had to take a shower and clean up both seats
yesterday. Four eyes, both activically scanning, gave a brief moment
that allowed a close encounter rather than planting a lot of glass
below.
They are very nice people and I love them, so maybe some words to me
would help keep my friends and me both flying.
Fred R.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Fred,

Maybe you can't hear your "horm" because it's not working. If your
renters are landing gear up, they're not hearing it either. Something
is failing somewhere, and it's probably not your hearing. Maybe it's
just not the best implementation of a warning system.

As Wayne mentioned, those little piezo buzzers from Radio Shack are
very obnoxious and loud. I'm sure you would hear it, especially if it
was mounted right behind your head. A simple ciruit with two
microswitches and a buzzer is very inexpensive and easy to do. Landing
gear switch closed when gear is up, spoiler switch open when spoilers
are closed. As long as the switch mounts are sturdy, it should be
practically bullet-proof, other than a power system failure.

On Nov 19, 7:40 pm, fred wrote:
Since I can not hear most warning horns (old ears) I would like to
have a stick vibrator, ( maybe that is off the shelf) a big flashing
light or an explosion. My wallet hurts, and teaching USTALL doesn't
seem to work.

If you want a light, just hook up a panel mounted 12 volt LED
(available for a couple bucks at any electronics store) in parallel to
your horn. That way you have both a horn and a light.

Hi,

I really like the TB32 Echo Recorded Sound Alarm (digital voice playback)
option from Tasman. You record someone saying something like "Lower the
gear NOW" into the little box and then wire it into your gear warning
system. It is extremely easy to setup and use. I have heard of some
operators recording messages such as "Lower the F****** Gear!". That's not
my style, but I imagine it gets the attention of the pilot and is therefore
very effective. You can see details he
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/tasman.htm#TB32

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"raulb" wrote in message
...
On Nov 19, 7:40 pm, fred wrote:
Since I can not hear most warning horns (old ears) I would like to
have a stick vibrator, ( maybe that is off the shelf) a big flashing
light or an explosion. My wallet hurts, and teaching USTALL doesn't
seem to work.

If you want a light, just hook up a panel mounted 12 volt LED
(available for a couple bucks at any electronics store) in parallel to
your horn. That way you have both a horn and a light.

If you can hear conversation and the radio, You should hear a piezo buzzer.
They come in several "loudnesses" and some can be wired for intermittant
tone. Intermittant tone can be more attention getting than a steady tone.
They are very inexpensive---wire one up to a battery, and take it for a test
drive in a car, windows down, radio up, at highway speed. LED on the panel
is great idea too. The LEDs come in several sizes and brightnesses. Be sure
to get the kind with built in resistor.

Scanning is good, but is not fail-safe. We all know how to scan--segments,
and near-to-far exam of the airspace. Do we always do it? We all know that
answer. In some Eastern soaring conditions, visibility in certain directions
and conditions can be limited, though the general visibility is well above
lega minima. (Up sun into haze, hilly background, etc). FLARM is partial
help, PCAS is partial help. No answer is complete.

Instructing a lowtime student in the pattern is a special problem, requiring
extra vigilance. Sitting in backseat, opaque globe in front of you, canopy
distortion maximised, teaching, correcting mistakes of student after the
error is obvious to him/her, but before it turns out badly. High workload
here with lots of distraction. High awareness of the problem helps.
--
Hartley Falbaum


"raulb" wrote in message
...
On Nov 19, 7:40 pm, fred wrote:
Since I can not hear most warning horns (old ears) I would like to
have a stick vibrator, ( maybe that is off the shelf) a big flashing
light or an explosion. My wallet hurts, and teaching USTALL doesn't
seem to work.

If you want a light, just hook up a panel mounted 12 volt LED
(available for a couple bucks at any electronics store) in parallel to
your horn. That way you have both a horn and a light.

I guess if the buzzer is loud and obnoxious enough it's better than
nothing. I only have two problems based on personal experience.

Using the dive brakes without putting the wheel down triggers the
alarm. As it should. On final approach. But also in a crowded thermal,
letting down in the wave, etc. And something could go wrong with one
of the microswitches causing the alarm to scream uncontrollably. Or
the dive brake handle can get knocked away from the sidewall when the
fuselage is in the trailer (if you think having the ELT go off in the
trailer is annoying, try rolling up to the airport Saturday morning to
find that the gear warning horn has been on for days and your battery
is dead.

For all the above reasons, many (most?) people install an override
switch, which invariably you'll forget to switch on again. End of gear
warning.

The second problem is that I've landed with the warning horn going off
in my ear. True, I'd put the wheel down (but hadn't pushed the handle
quite far enough towards the sidewall. I guess subconsciously I knew
there wasn't a problem (and there wasn't) so I subconsciously ignored
the noise. Plus I was finishing low and fast and pulling up and
monitoring traffic and following close on someone's tail in the low
pattern and all sorts of other things at the time. Exactly the kind of
overload situation that might cause me to forget to put the wheel
down.

That was 35 years ago. I haven't had a gear warning system since.
Yeah, I'll probably forget one of these days. And THEN install
one. But I'm hoping my checklist--which I consult more often with
each passing year--will keep me out of trouble. You can't make things
idiotproof.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.

That was 35 years ago. I haven't had a gear warning system since.
Yeah, I'll probably forget one of these days. And THEN install
one.
Isn't that the "normal" approach??
I really like the idea of a "stick shaker". My hearing is very weak
in the upper ranges, and the Radio Shack Piezo annunciators all seem
to be in that range. Next time I take my interior out, I think I'll
build a stick shaker in.

If you can hear you home smoke detector you will hear
the gear warning.

I can't stand being in one room with one of those (I guess that's the
purpose of a smoke detector ;-)). In a small cockpit and under a
canopy the noise level would be high enough to make me a much worse
pilot than I usually am. Close to the ground, this may be fatal.

Bartek