Another gear-up this afternoon

[Oldguy]

Just got this sent to me from some friends out at KEET. No apparent injuries except for ego. Picture shared by pilot on social media.

Don't have any information as to reason for the gear up landing.

 

[anthonydesmet]

Interesting at least from the picture it looks like the prop isn’t bent as if the engine wasn’t turning at touchdown……looks like a nice controlled landing if intentional 

[A64Pilot]

Prop looks bent to me, but then I have an Ipad, not a full size screen.

‘I don’t think you could get it to stop in the right place, first you have to get it to stop windmilling which isn’t as easy as you may suspect, mine always stops at 10 and 4 like an airplane that you hand prop.

But it appears the flaps are up, so maybe they couldn’t get the gear down?

Edited May 29, 2021 by A64Pilot

[anthonydesmet]

Just now, A64Pilot said:

Prop looks bent to me, but then I have an Ipad, not a full size screen.

‘I don’t think you could get it to stop in the right place, first you have to get it to stop windmilling which isn’t as easy as you may suspect,the mine always stops at 10 and 4 like an airplane that you hand prop.

But it appears the flaps are up, so maybe they couldn’t get the gear down?

Same I’m also on an iPad mini.  That’s funny, my prop either stops at 12 and 6 or 3 and 9.

[Guest]

Seems to be a regular occurrence, sad.

Clarence

[RLCarter]

Left blade tip looks bent forward which meant is was running when it hit

Edited May 29, 2021 by RLCarter

[EricJ]

It also kinda looks like the prop is at coarse pitch, which is unusual.

 

[Hank]

Like many of my landings, he's a little left of center. My wife always points that out . . . .

Hope it's back in the air soon!

[carusoam]

First one for the spring flying season?

Lets all do a Gumps check...   

 

1) Gas...

2) Under carriage...

3) Mixture...

4) Prop...

5) Switches...

 

Well....   looks like he got the first one right.

Not enough definition to the pic to tell how bent the prop is...

When idle, prop tips usually get bent back...

If generating power, tips grab the ground and pull forwards... bending the forwards.

 

PP thoughts only...

Best regards,

-a-

[A64Pilot]

I have never seen a prop get bent forward

[A64Pilot]

13 hours ago, EricJ said:

It also kinda looks like the prop is at coarse pitch, which is unusual.

 

Once they contact the ground all bets are off. Once oil pressure is removed from a prop, it will go to fine pitch, except for an aerobatic prop or a turbine, they go to high pitch or feather, unless they contact something, then who knows?

 

[Hank]

2 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

I have never seen a prop get bent forward

Happens frequently. Zoom in on the left blade above, it's blurry but definitely bent forward.

[Jerry Pressley]

18 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Prop looks bent to me, but then I have an Ipad, not a full size screen.

‘I don’t think you could get it to stop in the right place, first you have to get it to stop windmilling which isn’t as easy as you may suspect, mine always stops at 10 and 4 like an airplane that you hand prop.

But it appears the flaps are up, so maybe they couldn’t get the gear down?

I did a Travel Air and saved both props   No0t difficult to flatten two blades.   Now three blades ????

[Jim Peace]

On 5/29/2021 at 3:04 PM, Oldguy said:

Just got this sent to me from some friends out at KEET. No apparent injuries except for ego. Picture shared by pilot on social media.

last flight was in April according to FlightAware 

[Jerry Pressley]

On 5/30/2021 at 9:45 AM, Hank said:

Happens frequently. Zoom in on the left blade above, it's blurry but definitely bent forward.

normally from making power on touchdown

 

[Shadrach]

On 5/30/2021 at 7:27 AM, A64Pilot said:

I have never seen a prop get bent forward

Props bend forward if the strike occurs when the engine is driving the prop and bend backward when the prop is driving the engine (wind milling).

[carusoam]

As far as...

Mooneys with no oil pressure having the props go to Max blade angle...

There are two...

Rocket engineering...  Rocket and the Missile both go towards feathered position when OilP goes to zero...

Great during engine out situations at altitude...

Not so good if engine governor oil pressure goes to zero during T/O...

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...
 

Best regards,

-a-

[carusoam]

When you see the before picture...

The blade tips are decorated in a way that may make the fuzzy after pic look like they are damaged more than usual blade tip decorations...

+1 for mixing Vettes and Mooneys...

Best regards,

-a-

[A64Pilot]

Are most gear ups from forgetting to put them down? 

If so then how frequently are they mechanical failure as in won’t go down? I assume some collapses are due to hard landings etc?

Trying to get a sense of how often it’s a broken airplane as opposed to pilot error.

‘Coming from a C-210 as my last complex airplane, it was often the airplanes fault, at least to some extent.

[Shadrach]

28 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

Are most gear ups from forgetting to put them down? 

If so then how frequently are they mechanical failure as in won’t go down? I assume some collapses are due to hard landings etc?

Trying to get a sense of how often it’s a broken airplane as opposed to pilot error.

‘Coming from a C-210 as my last complex airplane, it was often the airplanes fault, at least to some extent.

My guess is that in general they skew towards pilot error. Mechanical failures are likely more prevalent in certain models. I know of a C177 that had back to back mechanical gear failures. Insurance company was off the hook for the second.

[carusoam]

We are seeing one GU each week...

once each year, something mechanical has been improperly set up...

once per month, a gear down lock block has been worn, and the thumb nail test wasn’t used properly...

So....

Expect most of the GU accidents to occur... from failure to use the triple GUMPs procedure...

Oddly,   Most of the GU landings reported are from non-MSers....

 

There are sooo many ways to avoid a GU landing...

Find the combination that works for you...

PP thoughts on estimated reports regarding GU landings around here...

Best regards,

-a-

[MooneyMitch]

My GU was mechanical.  Linkage became disconnected from electric gear worm drive.

 

[Oldguy]

To further update the brain trust:

I made a mistake in the original post - the gear up was on TO. He had allegedly done some work behind the panel and was taking it to a mechanic. The gear handle was in the down position after he exited the plane, but the circuit breaker was popped. Several thoughts voiced at the airport about the apparent anomaly of a gear up on take off with the CB popped and the gear handle in the down position, and not all of them were complimentary.

[dominikos]

22 hours ago, carusoam said:

We are seeing one GU each week...

once each year, something mechanical has been improperly set up...

once per month, a gear down lock block has been worn, and the thumb nail test wasn’t used properly...

So....

Expect most of the GU accidents to occur... from failure to use the triple GUMPs procedure...

Oddly,   Most of the GU landings reported are from non-MSers....

 

There are sooo many ways to avoid a GU landing...

Find the combination that works for you...

PP thoughts on estimated reports regarding GU landings around here...

Best regards,

-a-

@carusoam, what is a thumb nail test?

[PeteMc]

6 minutes ago, Oldguy said:

...the gear up was on TO...  ...The gear handle was in the down position after he exited the plane...

Can you run this by me one more time?  What am I missing?

Gear handle was DOWN.  The mishap was on TO (takeoff??) but he exited the plane????

If it was on takeoff, I'm guessing you're saying that he lifted off or bounced off the runway and the gear retracted and he settled back down onto the runway?  But I'm still missing the circuit breaker being popped.  So if the there is no power to the motor, how did the gear retract?  Did they swing freely somehow so that they were not still locked in the down position?