That "no-GUMP" Scratching Sound

In a previous article, "Jay Honeck" said:
[Saving the plane instead of saving themselves]
From what the "gray heads" have told me, stopping the engine, bumping
the prop till it's horizontal, and landing on the grass, gear-up, all
fall into this category. Doing stuff that might save the paint, at
the risk of catapulting you end-over-end, or doing anything that takes
your attention away from flying the plane (in what is, after all, a
VERY unusual situation) can cause (for example) an inadvertent
stall.

Add to that list "flying low over the runway while some idiot in a car or
truck attempts to pull your landing gear out while risking having the prop
turn them into hamburger". It seems like there's one of those about once
a year, and every time the guy is treated like some sort of hero instead
of an idiot willing to risk several lives to save an insurance claim.


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
If killing them all to a man is not an option then you are better off to
simply leave them to slowly self destruct under their own incompetance.
-- Dag

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

They keep trying to save the plane beyond the point
where it is too late to save themselves.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...19X00634&key=1

Tried to do the ol' 180 back to the runway, even though there are several
open fields around the airport.

http://tinyurl.com/26km5h

According an acquaintence of the pilot, the airplane was uninsured.

--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

Jay Honeck wrote:
snip

If you're in an emergency, your immediate thought has to be "this
plane is now the insurance company's plane" -- and fly it
accordingly. When you're talking about airplanes -- things that many
of us invest with almost human-like qualities -- this may be the
hardest part of any emergency landing.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"


There was a article recently in one of the flying magazines that said
the same thing. You walk away and let the insurance company have the plane.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

On Feb 20, 2:38 pm, "Peter R." wrote:
On 2/20/2007 4:10:33 PM, "Marco Leon" wrote:

I hope to never hear this first-hand. Of course I've increased the
odds in my favor quite a bit by flying a fixed-gear aircraft.

I cannot tell - Was this a pilot mistake or a gear failure?

--
Peter

The first thing that jumped out at me was at the very beginning of the
video, you can hear one of the pilot talking about their "clubs". He
says something like "I went back there the day after to get back my
clubs and those things..."

To me it sounds like they were just shootin' the ****, weren't paying
attention to what they were doing, didn't do the checklist, and got
screwed. If it was a real emergency, they'd have been freaking out.
They would have told someone, and there would have been firetrucks
standing by.

Tried to do the ol' 180 back to the runway, even though there are several
open fields around the airport.

One really great thing about the Kiwi (see it he
http://alexisparkinn.com/flight_simulator.htm ) is that we've been
able to practice true "engine-out" emergencies.

As it turns out, these are quite different from the "engine-idle"
emergencies we all practice in "real life", and have proven to me that
trying to return to the airport at anything less than 600 AGL is dicey
indeed.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Peter R. wrote:
On 2/20/2007 4:10:33 PM, "Marco Leon" wrote:

I hope to never hear this first-hand. Of course I've increased the
odds in my favor quite a bit by flying a fixed-gear aircraft.

I cannot tell - Was this a pilot mistake or a gear failure?

Pilot mistake... if you read the forums attached to that page you'll
see that they were doing multiple landings with the gear down and
after the previous one the pilot retracted the gear (force of habit
he says) and forgot to put it back.

Paul Tomblin wrote:
In a previous article, "Marco Leon" said:
I hope to never hear this first-hand. Of course I've increased the
odds in my favor quite a bit by flying a fixed-gear aircraft.

http://www.flightlevel350.com/Aircra...ideo-7951.html

So what's the story? It's pretty obvious from the alarms going off and
the way the camera goes to the side window just before touch down that
they knew the gear wasn't down, but why?

No, I think the reason he turns out the side window because as the plane
starts to flare there's no view other than sky out the front for the guy
in the back seat so he turns towards the side window.

On 2/22/2007 7:35:36 AM, Ron Natalie wrote:

Pilot mistake... if you read the forums attached to that page you'll
see that they were doing multiple landings with the gear down and
after the previous one the pilot retracted the gear (force of habit
he says) and forgot to put it back.

Ahh.. thanks for the added info. I didn't even see the forum attached there
during the first pass.

--
Peter

I hope to never hear this first-hand. Of course I've increased the
odds in my favor quite a bit by flying a fixed-gear aircraft.

I cannot tell - Was this a pilot mistake or a gear failure?

Pilot mistake... if you read the forums attached to that page you'll
see that they were doing multiple landings with the gear down and
after the previous one the pilot retracted the gear (force of habit
he says) and forgot to put it back.

BTW, the Ground Proximity Warning systems used on transport aircraft, even
25 years ago, were a little more informative to the pilot. Instead of just
a horn or siren, the audible annunciator said "undercarriage" from about
2500 feet agl until a much lower altitude--then it said "UNDERCARRIAGE!"

The warning horn is really just an interruption--in the hope that a pilot
will notice it and investigate.

My reason for mentioning this is that the technology to substitute an
audible annunciator has become extremely light, reliable, and cheap over the
past quarter century. A more informative type of alarm would be very
usefull for those of us who occassionally suffer from "sometimer's
desease"--which I suspect is most of us, if not all.

IMHO, it is time for the FAA to "step up to the plate" in a constructive
way, and provide a blanket approval for an inexpensive conversion based on a
337 form. They should also try to make every IA aware of the availability,
so that the IA can offer it at the next annual.

Just my $.02

Peter