There have been numerous threads on MS about making sure the gear is down for landing, but all these discussions are about the pilot putting the gear handle in the correct position. Personally, I think Mooney's gear down verification system stinks and we are all subject to gear up landings due to a[poorly designed gear indicating system.
It is completely possible due to Mooney's design that the handle (or Johnson bar) could be in the down position and one or more gear not down and the pilot would never know it....until too late.
If you look at the attached picture, there are two switches on the left gear pushrod....one for up, one for down. However, there is no indication of the status of the individual over-center mechanisms for each individual gear.
In theory, one could disconnect all the push-rods to the gear and get perfect down and locked indications while all gear are 'not down'.
In reality, a push-rod could be bent, the over-center lock not over-center and the pilot would never know until too late....unless he just happened to find it during a fortuitously timed inspection.
I wonder why Mooney did not design individual gear down-lock status lights like most other aircraft? Why did Mooney feel "one green" would suffice for the traditional "three green"?