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What's the closest you've come to a gear up POLL


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Gear up poll?  

81 members have voted

  1. 1. What's the closest you've come to a gear up landing?

    • I have landed where I forgot to put the gear down
      2
    • I definitely put it down but it failed/collapsed
      5
    • I retracted it on the ground by accident
      0
    • I nicked the ground (with prop, step, etc) but went around
      1
    • I remembered to put the gear down in ground effect
      0
    • I realized last moment and went around without touching
      0
    • Someone on the ground alerted me gear wasn't down
      5
    • Someone else in the plane alerted me gear wasn't down
      4
    • Gear warning was the thing that made me realize I forgot to put it down
      6
    • I caught myself forgetting to put it down thanks to checklist
      6
    • I've never, knock on wood, forgotten to put gear down when I intended to
      52
    • I've never forgotten to put gear down because mine doesn't go up in the first place (D model)
      0


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1 minute ago, Urs_Wildermuth said:

I never yet forgot to put it down but I had a gear warning in flare (just about at touch down) once which scared the bejazis out of me... Turns out that the Johnson wasn't properly locked but somehow managed to show green anyhow initially. During touch down it appears to have shaken loose sufficiently to trigger the red light and sound, but thankfully stayed in. I immediately grabbed the handle and pressed forward with all strenght I could muster and braked to a stop, then gave it another push up and the warning ceased and it clicked in place.

 

Lesson learnt: really shake and yank that lever on final to make darn sure it is secure.

If it were not locked in and wanting to collapse already on the ground- with your hand on it I would be afraid it would break your arm snapping around so fast during a collapse.

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3 hours ago, Alan Fox said:

I prefer "Crash and dash"

It does have a certain flair (or should I say "flare"?) to it.;) I like it!

But I have to assume that nobody does this following conscious thought; it HAS to be instinctual. Is this correct Alan? I can't imagine having the time and wherewithal to think this through while the blade tips are oh-so-gently nicking the pavement.

14 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

Don't ever just sit there and listen to it.

Like you Paul I try to NEVER listen to the horn, but what do you do when practicing slow-flight or working on power-off stalls? I struggle with the notion of pulling the breaker on the horn during these exercises as I do know of people who've landed gear up after pulling the CB. 

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My Dad had a gear up on our 1st Mooney.  His story was the wheels were down when in the pattern.  Just before landing he decided to add more flaps.  Instead of using the flap handle he used the johnson bar and raised the wheels.  In his defense he said it was the best landing he's ever made.  As the saying goes. "There are 2 kinds of rg pilots.  The ones that have had a gear up landing and the ones that will some day have a gear up landing".

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Have never had a gear up (knock on wood). However, one time after landing my Encore at Stockton airport (CA) I raised the gear handle instead of the flaps handle while rolling out on the runway. The gear didn't retract - I was saved by the squat switch. I realized my error immediately and put that gear handle right back down. Whew!

This is exactly why some instructors tell you not to touch anything until you're clear of the runway.

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4 hours ago, Marauder said:

 

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And to answer your question. the closet I ever came to landing gear up is reminding another pilot on final that the roll out would be longer if we did it on wheels.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I always remind passengers of two rules when we are 1000 ft or less agl after take-off or before landing:

1) Silence is Golden.

2) Duct Tape is Silver.

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20 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

My procedure and what was taught to me is, never let that gear horn ring. As soon as it makes a sound, turn it off. That's done either by adding throttle or extending the gear. So even if I'm too far out and aren't ready to lower the gear, add just enough throttle to turn it off. Don't ever just sit there and listen to it.

How do you practice engine out procedures? 

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My closest experience was while flying to a big pilot gathering. (Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be if anyone had a gear up in front of a ton of your pilot buddies? You wouldn't be able to even make up stories! Heh) there was lots of traffic in the pattern, parachuters, wind changes and when I got aligned with the runway pretty close, I did my GUMPS checklist and it saved me and I popped my gear down. Taught me that Especially if there's lots of distractions on final, then I need to make SURE  I have a zen pause dedicated only to check gear status, then the rest of my GUMPS. if not enough time for a zen pause, I go around!

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On 4/28/2017 at 8:14 AM, flyboy0681 said:

This has always been my ace in the hole for remembering to put the gear down when flying VFR, but when flying IFR and at the FAF, the aircraft is already slowed down and it's much more important to have procedures in place to get the gear down. 

More likely than not, forgetting to put gear down occurs while in the pattern practicing or some non-standard activity/ATC distractions etc. In normal operations, I come in fast enough that without putting gear down I have no way to slow down to land.

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I haven't yet or even come close because the first thing I do in setting it up for landing is slow it down below extension speed and then get the gear down. In my IFR training I worked in out that slowing to about 110 and setting power to hold altitude makes dropping the gear give me a tidy ~500 ft/min. So putting the gear down starts the descent and is hard to forget.

I can see though where an instructor, inspector, or ATC giving a bunch of instructions and interurpting a pilot could short circuit all that and lead to a gear up.

CGUMP on short final (but not too short) or airport in sight on straight in instrument approach. Maybe that would be the best insurance.

My new instructor (the first one died) is big on checklists. I'm sorting it all out with him since I don't want my nose in paper for something I should be able to memorize and repeat from habit. I believe eyes should be out the window.

The habit I'm worst on is aux fuel pump on below 1000ft. I started out with Cessna and gravity feed. I'm almost perfect on the take off but I've caught myself landing a couple times with it off.  

Edited by pinerunner
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(Knocking wood) I haven't had a near miss, but my bird has.  Several years ago I lent my M20F to a very experienced Mooney pilot (M20C driver) to pick up an equally experienced pilot at a nearby airport.  They decided to come back low and slow during the 15 minute return flight to sightsee along the Delaware river.  They were talking and forgot to put the gear up.  When they arrived at my home airport, they went through the landing checklist, and put the gear UP (!) They had the radio volume turned down to facilitate conversation and didn't hear the several warning radio calls while on short final.  The FBO owner ran out to the middle of the runway to wave them off - during the go around, the pilot realized the gear was up. The second landing attempt was successful and uneventful.

Lessons Learned.  LOOK at the Johnson Bar position and the indicator lights on takeoff and before landing.  LISTEN to CTAF when in the pattern at an uncontrolled airport.  USE your checklist. that's what it's there for.

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(Knocking wood) I haven't had a near miss, but my bird has.  Several years ago I lent my M20F to a very experienced Mooney pilot (M20C driver) to pick up an equally experienced pilot at a nearby airport.  They decided to come back low and slow during the 15 minute return flight to sightsee along the Delaware river.  They were talking and forgot to put the gear up.  When they arrived at my home airport, they went through the landing checklist, and put the gear UP (!) They had the radio volume turned down to facilitate conversation and didn't hear the several warning radio calls while on short final.  The FBO owner ran out to the middle of the runway to wave them off - during the go around, the pilot realized the gear was up. The second landing attempt was successful and uneventful.
Lessons Learned.  LOOK at the Johnson Bar position and the indicator lights on takeoff and before landing.  LISTEN to CTAF when in the pattern at an uncontrolled airport.  USE your checklist. that's what it's there for.


I hope somebody bought that FBO owner a nice bottle of scotch or something.


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1 hour ago, cnoe said:

I hope somebody bought that FBO owner a nice bottle of scotch or something.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Yes indeed!  .. and he's still there - and, even though we have moved, he remains a good friend!

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When my plane came out of annual, my instructor and mechanic did the initial post-maintenance test flight. I watched them takeoff and land, and followed them back in. They crossed a VERY bumpy grass runway (tail bumping up and down, A LOT). Got to the yard, shut off the engine but the master was still on. I heard the "BEEP BEEP BEEP" of the gear warning. Me, being green behind the ear, tried to say in the nicest way possible to two pilots with more than 10,000 hours in my style plane that the gear wasn't locked. One of them grabbed it and it actually POPPED out of the socket and came back an inch. Both of them used all four hands and slid it back into the lock. 

My insurance was NOT valid for that flight and wasn't in effect until the following day. I didn't say anything else about it in front of them but my girlfriend realized something was off when all three of us had blank faces. She asked me about it on the way home and I explained to her how close they almost cost me $20,000.

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