gear up landing: "There are those who have, and..."

I've always understood the message in that saying to be, "never think
you've become so proficient that you are not subject to leaving the gear
up" Not fatalistic but a warning to the wise.

A corollary: "Whatever your method for remembering to get the gear down,
remember no method is foolproof."

Bob G said that "IMHO saying (internally) something like "three greens"
at least twice before short final should eliminate the possibility of
landing gear up. Worked for me." I'd say, "so far..." with
considerable respect Bob..

There's always SOMETHING that can screw up your short final planning
(e.g. bird strike, a streaker) and cause you to forget. If you haven't
seen that SOMETHING yet, just keep living.

I almost did it in my glider despite a foolproof method that worked for
1000 hours and hundreds of non-standard patterns and landings.
Fortunately it happened during a contest and an observant ground crew
radioed me 10 feet off the ground.

gatt wrote:
"...those who will forgot to lower their landing gear."

Was told this by a guest instructor. I'm not at all comfortable with this.

Thoughts?

-c

Maule Driver wrote:
snip
A corollary: "Whatever your method for remembering to get the gear
down,
remember no method is foolproof."

I think you hit the nail on the head. Rather than being fatalistic,
it's more of a warning that it can happen to anyone if their attention
is diverted at a critical moment.

snip
There's always SOMETHING that can screw up your short final planning
(e.g. bird strike, a streaker) and cause you to forget. If you
haven't
seen that SOMETHING yet, just keep living.

That's the key. I've seen gear-ups performed by retractable newbies
and 10,000+ hr. pilots. A combination of distractions at the right
time can sink the best of them. When I based at PHX, I once watched a
commercial 737 come down short final with the gear up. They were
coming back around for the second time after going around for traffic
on the runway. While on the go around, they reported a problem with an
engine indicator. It distracted them enough that they missed putting
the gear down. Fortunately, the tower caught it and let them know and
they went around again.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

" wrote:


I've seen gear-ups performed by retractable newbies
and 10,000+ hr. pilots. A combination of distractions at the right
time can sink the best of them. When I based at PHX, I once watched a
commercial 737 come down short final with the gear up. They were
coming back around for the second time after going around for traffic
on the runway. While on the go around, they reported a problem with an
engine indicator. It distracted them enough that they missed putting
the gear down. Fortunately, the tower caught it and let them know and
they went around again.

John Deakin wrote a good article on this subject on Avweb, about
almost landing a 747 gear up.
http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/188536-1.html
I also read an investigation report about someone almost doing it in a
Learjet on a check flight. They went around when they felt the VHF
antenna drag on the runway!
http://www.atsb.gov.au/aviation/occu...ail.cfm?ID=220
The PIC (the instructor) is listed as having 17000 hours, 3000 on
type.

"Maule Driver" wrote in message . com...
I've always understood the message in that saying to be, "never think you've become so proficient that you are not
subject to leaving the gear up" Not fatalistic but a warning to the wise.

A corollary: "Whatever your method for remembering to get the gear down, remember no method is foolproof."

Bob G said that "IMHO saying (internally) something like "three greens" at least twice before short final should
eliminate the possibility of landing gear up. Worked for me." I'd say, "so far..." with considerable respect Bob..

There's always SOMETHING that can screw up your short final planning (e.g. bird strike, a streaker) and cause you to
forget. If you haven't seen that SOMETHING yet, just keep living.

I almost did it in my glider despite a foolproof method that worked for 1000 hours and hundreds of non-standard
patterns and landings. Fortunately it happened during a contest and an observant ground crew radioed me 10 feet off
the ground.



P-3 in Hawaii shooting low approaches into Lihue airport on Kauai. They decided to do one all the way down to landing,
and you guessed it. The airport was closed the rest of the day while they got it off the runway...