Check Gear!

[bonal]

Not far off topic at all OP was about checking gear this applies to sea planes as well. Images of what can happen can serve to remind us of what's at stake.

[thinwing]

7 hours ago, bonal said:

That's what happened to this fellow a couple years ago, departed Lampson and is under one minute from the approach to landing on the lake and forgot to put the gear UP, fortunately no one seriously injured. Flying an amphibious could be confusing.

Hi there...Jana and I know the owner very well...we used to hang out at the Clearlake Splashins...He suffered a broken leg with this incident....a beautiful restored widge

[bonal]

Didn't know about the broken leg I don't recall it being mentioned in the local news story. Hopefully he recovered 100%

[PT20J]

Lyle Panepinto at Southern Seaplane teaches a really good seaplane safety class that includes emergency egress training in a dunk tank. 

[Revelstoke]

Having flown an amphib for years, i always double checked the gear was up on approach to water. I was more concerned about forgetting the gear down for some reason,  than landing gear up on a runway. Training to put gear down before landing so long, made me paranoid of the what if ai lowered it by instict in the pattern or long final if coming straight in. So i total myself to double check it was up before it got to late to abort all water landings. Doctors are not always known for their being great pilots, maybe that was always in the back of my mind as well. My peers often joked with me about not adding to the stereotype of Doctor/Pilots. 

[thinwing]

On 1/21/2019 at 11:52 AM, toto said:

Since we've gone pretty far afield from the OT, I'll post this just for viewing pleasure.  This is effectively the "Red Asphalt" clip for seaplane students... proof that you don't need to forget the gear to have a bad day on water

 

This was a non planned crash at Lake lovely water BC during the filming of the movie motherload with Charton Heston.What happened was they used a non seaplane rated stunt pilot named Jimmie Angel as I recall.For some reason he decided to land by circling the lake cirque and 10,000 ft head wall instead of flying thru the notch .He had to force the landing ,was in a slip,too fast and the lake is only about a kilometer long...maybe 3000 ft usable.I saw this clip years ago and Jana and I decided to flyin and spend the night at a Canadian Alpine club located on the lake.I wanted Jana to film the landing ,so do a high and low reconn and in we go and I make a perfect splashdown if I say so myself.Jana is sitting behind me with the camera in the amphib husky and saw that 10000 ft head wall fill the screen.....So after we landed and taxi back to shore..I asked her did you get a good shot...she says ,I don’t know,I had my eyes closed!,

Edited January 22, 2019 by thinwing
Misspelling

[thinwing]

This view on final

[jaylw314]

1 hour ago, thinwing said:

This view on final

 

Zoicks!

[thinwing]

12 minutes ago, jaylw314 said:

Zoicks!

Yeah you definitely do not want to take off in that direction

[carusoam]

[thinwing]

That’s better

[PT20J]

Was wondering about that 90-deg bank. Hey, thanks for the picture. I've been hoping for a charter there someday so I could see how the lake got it's name. Pretty.

[thinwing]

19 hours ago, PT20J said:

Was wondering about that 90-deg bank. Hey, thanks for the picture. I've been hoping for a charter there someday so I could see how the lake got it's name. Pretty.

My wife took the pic..blame her...The name of the place we stayed is the Tantalus hut...crude hostil type sleeping with large kitchen.They had just rebuilt dock and have a couple boats they lend.It primarily caters to mountain climbers and charged 20 per night in 2010.When we went,we cleared customs at abbordsford BC Than stocked up on groceries and beer and ice in the float compartments.Vancouver complained about our rate of climb (we were heavy).Charters available out of Vancouver or whistler...also there is a helicopter operator down in the Valley below.

[thinwing]

23 hours ago, Revelstoke said:

Having flown an amphib for years, i always double checked the gear was up on approach to water. I was more concerned about forgetting the gear down for some reason,  than landing gear up on a runway. Training to put gear down before landing so long, made me paranoid of the what if ai lowered it by instict in the pattern or long final if coming straight in. So i total myself to double check it was up before it got to late to abort all water landings. Doctors are not always known for their being great pilots, maybe that was always in the back of my mind as well. My peers often joked with me about not adding to the stereotype of Doctor/Pilots. 

Yeah a gear up landing is no big deal except the wear on the float skegs...dad use to land on wet grass with straight floats when it was changeout time

[Yetti]

I am hearing of another person in North Texas having gear issues

[gsxrpilot]

2 hours ago, Yetti said:

I am hearing of another person in North Texas having gear issues

Oh no, not another one.

[Yetti]

update 5:30 pm .... aircraft off the runway .....Just an FYI——>Check notam .. Sherman kSWI is closed for few hours ... gear up on the runway ....

[Vno]

Interesting article in the Feb 19 issue of Aviation Consumer. Gist is that the insurance market is tightening up and rates are probably going up across the board for all GA. Highest in the private-owned turbine aircraft, but all will probably see increases. Not an excuse to decrease gear up landings but it is probably is not one of the main reasons our insurance rates are increasing.

Brian

[Davidv]

7 hours ago, Vno said:

Interesting article in the Feb 19 issue of Aviation Consumer. Gist is that the insurance market is tightening up and rates are probably going up across the board for all GA. Highest in the private-owned turbine aircraft, but all will probably see increases. Not an excuse to decrease gear up landings but it is probably is not one of the main reasons our insurance rates are increasing.

Brian

A friend of mine who is a 20k hr CFII/DPE with nearly all small single and multi engine time (not 20k hrs flying 737s), with no claim history, just paid 3300 yr for his P210.  I was shocked.

Maybe it has something to do with the pressurization but I expected him to be at half that.

[carusoam]

Could be the value of all the stuff in the plane, and the level of coverage he has selected...

when it comes to insurance... some people select much higher limit levels than others... protecting the value of the bodies being carried... with words like 1million smooth.... ?

PP thoughts only, not an insurance guy...

Best regards,

-a-

[M20C]

On 1/17/2019 at 1:03 PM, Andy95W said:

Yes, it has the interconnect springs.  The interconnect mechanism is identical to later models, such as the '67 M20C that I used to own.  Below is an old picture before I cleaned it up.  In the photo, the springs are disconnected from the rudder pushrod.  I was in the process of removing it and figured I should take a picture first.

So did you permanently remove the interconnect?  I am considering doing this... did it lessen the aileron turning forces/load?  I am under the impression this interconnect was added for the PC system; does anyone know if this is correct?

[Andy95W]

1 hour ago, M20C said:

So did you permanently remove the interconnect?  I am considering doing this... did it lessen the aileron turning forces/load?  I am under the impression this interconnect was added for the PC system; does anyone know if this is correct?

No, I didn't permanently remove the interconnect.  I did take everything out for stripping, painting, and installation with new hardware.

The interconnect was not added for the PC system.  Mine is a1964 (pre-PC) and it has it.

IMHO, you really don't want to remove the interconnect.  It is very well designed and does what it's supposed to do really well.  Any stiffness added to the system is offset by much greater stability.  You really don't notice the control forces after a while.  After about 18 years of owning 2 different M20Cs, the airplane just seems to do what I'm thinking.  I hardly notice that the control forces are higher than most light airplanes.  (Note- this took a good amount of work getting the rigging right so the interconnect helps, rather than hinders, flying the airplane.)

Finally, my official opinion as an A&P is that you cannot remove the interconnect.  Modifying the flight control system is considered a major alteration by the FAA and would require a field approval.  I seriously doubt anyone would approve that.

[M20C]

Thanks Andy... still thinking about removing it (at least for testing).  I will post my results here if I go that route.

[Austintatious]

I have very very little fixed gear time ( maybe 200 hours)... heck, even my glider has retractable gear!

I remember training in an Aztec and as we got down to about 200 feet my instructor/stepfather pointed out the gear wasn't down...  hit me hard.  My habit then became

1- Always say out loud " GEAR DOWN >  Before LANDING CHECKS"  I am not allowed to do my landing checks until the gear goes down.

2- I look at the gear handle and lights at 200 feet EVERY approach. ( in reality I probably look at it 5 times!)

 

I REALLY REALLY dont want to ever gear one in.  I did however forget to raise the gear in my glider during my first flight in it after an aerotow.... Sort of confused me when I went to check gear down and it was already down ! lol.