Gear up video

[The-sky-captain]

I'm sure most of you have seen this video. It sure makes you wonder how the pilot missed the very loud beeping in the background alerting him that his gear was still up. My gear horn, stall horn and altitude hold trim up/down horn all sound pretty much the same. The "Bitchin Betty" gear alert system sounds like a good investment, do any of you have any experience with it?

 

http://webmail.aol.com/40627/aim/en-us/Mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.21102210&folder=Deleted&partId=2&saveAs=Whatsthatbeeping.wmv

[alun]

not yet.  but its getting fitted next week!

[jrjaks]

The previous owner of my Mooney did a gear up, and subsequently had installed a warning device that says, "Check Landing Gear" over and over in the most obnoxious, nagging voice imaginable, when the throttle is retarded with the gear up.  There is no way to ignore it or to not hear it.

[The-sky-captain]

I get chills just watching the video... must be a horrible feeling. Alun, let me know how you like the system once it gets installed.

[DonMuncy]

I had a "Bitchin Betty" installed a few months ago.  It is the one which operates off the same sensors as the stall warning and gear alert horns.  I have not had it come on due to my inadvertance, but have "tested" it.  The voice is such you could not miss it.  (After the installation, I had the avionics guy turn the volume down, as it was originally god-awful loud).  My belief is that it would take a complete idiot to do a gear up landing with it operating.  It has the same level of warning for stalls, and I hear it quite often landing.  I think this would also be very hard to ignore unless a pilot was frozen into elevator-up mode trying to avoid an impending crash.  I considered the other types that have their own stall sensors, but this one is quite a bit cheaper, and I think it is well worth the cost.  My belief is that the original horns are not loud enough to penetrate good headsets, at least to the extent of arousing ones consciousness ot the problem.

Don

[Piloto]

I would not be surprised if the pilot thought that it was the stall alarm instead of the gear alarm. I almost belly landed mine for this reason. Since then I installed the voice warning which I strongly recommend, particularly for those over 50. 

José

 

[aviatoreb]

Hi All,

Does anyone have a link to a good bitchin' betty avionics device that yells at me in English instead of blaring a horn or blinking a light?

 

[DonMuncy]

Try this site. I got theirs, which senses off the gear up warning horn on the plane. It converts it to an "impossible to miss" voice through the headset. I think you would have to be really out of it to miss it. And the price wasn't bad for avaition stuff.

Don  

http://www.flyingsafer.com/

[kortopates]

I have this one http://www.p2inc.com/audioadvisory.asp and am very happy with it. Pulling its breaker is the simple way to turn it off while doing slow flight, and stalls etc. with gear up.

[Magnum]

I have the AV-17 voice anunciator from EI http://www.buy-ei.com/Pages/Miscellaneous/Misc_Annunciators.html

Easy to install, cheaper than the other systems and a lot of additional alarms can be connected, e.g. low vacuum, engine monitor etc. It has a priority list if more than one alarm triggers so you hear the important warnings first. The only thing I am missing is a "Minimums"-warning for the Aspen.

The alarms can be muted for one or ten minutes. Very helpful, because with other units you have to switch the complete unit off to mute an alarm (e.g. to get rid of the low vacuum warning while the engine is idling on the ground) and you might forget to switch it on again.

It has a internal voltage warning, too. But that was very annoying, as I got the alarm while taxiing on the ground with the landing light on (it triggers at approx. 26V). I called them, had to send the unit in and they disabled this warning. Great service from EI.

[DaV8or]

Quote: Magnum

I have the AV-17 voice anunciator from EI http://www.buy-ei.com/Pages/Miscellaneous/Misc_Annunciators.html

[flyboy0681]

The GPS Steering system that I'm having installed contains a gear warning based on altitude, not whether the gear is actually down. I think that will be enough to keep me on my toes.

 

http://www.icarusinstruments.com/samgps/SAM.html