Gear speed - early 201's

[A64Pilot]

On 12/21/2024 at 7:48 AM, Hank said:

I've been driving since 1977, and have never knowingly been through a light like that. Need to find and update my spreadsheet listing states visited and driven around in, it must be > 40. But haven't driven in Kali, either too young or just taxi and walking around downtown SF before it went awry.

If I had $1 for every light I've sat waiting out the timers to make a left turn with zero traffic going the other way . . . . Yes, even between midnight and 0500.

I think it’s because you and I live and probably either always or mostly have lived in the “sticks”, for me it’s always, but I like it that way.

For me an absolute horror story would be a cruise ship, 5,000 people stuffed into a boat, even or maybe especially a large one would have me breaking out in hives.

I just don’t like crowds. The traffic and congestion in Orlando for me is insane, I will only go near there if there is no other option, and I’m certain it’s Hicksville compared to what I have seen on the news about some of California. I did attend a class at the Navy base in San Diego years ago though and don’t remember the traffic being horrible.

Where I live the town has one traffic light, but it’s real close to “The Villages” in Fl, I could not live there, or like that.

Pics of new construction in The Villages, it’s not all like this, but even the nicer areas the houses are stacked on top of each other, the open areas are the golf courses etc.

 

Edited December 23, 2024 by A64Pilot

[T. Peterson]

On 12/15/2024 at 9:55 PM, Will.iam said:

I have the 140 kias max speed for extension on my M20K and yet never lower the gear at speeds higher than 100kias and routinely slow to 80 kias before gear extension as the slower you go the less wear and tear put on the gear motor, linkages and gears. I don’t wait until the last second and slam on my brakes in my car the same reason. Plan better. Not worth the additional mx cost for the few minutes you might gain waiting til the last second. 

I don’t trust myself to wait till 80 kts. That would mean that I am on relatively short final. I can easily see a “gear up” in my future doing that. 
My gear comes down abeam the upwind numbers on a visual or FAF on an instrument approach. 100 to 120 knots depending. Maybe a little harder on the gear but not as hard as a gear up landing. I simply have a profound respect for my ability to forget a crucial step. I attempt to mitigate that with unwavering procedural compliance. This is totally personal. I understand that other folks may have completely different procedures that may be superior to mine.

[takair]

21 minutes ago, T. Peterson said:

I don’t trust myself to wait till 80 kts. That would mean that I am on relatively short final. I can easily see a “gear up” in my future doing that. 
My gear comes down abeam the upwind numbers on a visual or FAF on an instrument approach. 100 to 120 knots depending. Maybe a little harder on the gear but not as hard as a gear up landing. I simply have a profound respect for my ability to forget a crucial step. I attempt to mitigate that with unwavering procedural compliance. This is totally personal. I understand that other folks may have completely different procedures that may be superior to mine.

Have not followed the entire thread, but just an observation from a Johnson bar guy.  I would suspect that there is less wear putting the gear down since gravity and gear door aero forces tend to make it want to come down.  Putting the gear up on the other hand……I can see significant  benefit in putting the gear up early.  I know many CFIs preach the idea of gear up only when no runway remaining.  When they fly with me, I welcome them to try….  The point being….I can imagine some huge loads on the gear train when putting the gear up at higher speeds on electric gear Mooneys, especially those with the lower doors….  I wonder if folks with lower doors experience faster wear than no doors?

I also agree that routinely waiting for short final might be a problem waiting to happen…

[Hank]

3 hours ago, takair said:

I can see significant  benefit in putting the gear up early.  I know many CFIs preach the idea of gear up only when no runway remaining.

For me, remaining runway must include time to descend, land and stop. My home field is 5000', so by the time I'm much above treetop height, I'm not going to be able to land and stop using the overrun area. So take off, verify in control per the Owners Manual, verify positive rate on the IVSI, then Gear Up.

[dkkim73]

On 12/20/2024 at 2:29 PM, philiplane said:

Because the active traffic sensors (eddy current loops) buried in the road will sense more cars at the light, and change it to green faster. That is why you're better off getting to the light faster when the lights are closely spaced. You also want close spacing between cars, not the 2-3 cars lengths some people leave in between. More density means that when the light turns green, it will stay green longer to accommodate all those vehicles. 

Tailgate on a route with multiple lights to get them to change faster? No thanks. Cheaper to not hit things. 

[philiplane]

On 12/28/2024 at 9:28 PM, dkkim73 said:

Tailgate on a route with multiple lights to get them to change faster? No thanks. Cheaper to not hit things. 

Not tailgating while approaching the light. I mean, don't leave 2,3 or more car lengths between cars while stopped at the light. This is crazy common in many urban areas. Which also prevents drivers from getting into the left turn lanes, because too many empty spots are in between cars stopped in the straight through lanes at the light.

[dkkim73]

11 hours ago, philiplane said:

Not tailgating while approaching the light. I mean, don't leave 2,3 or more car lengths between cars while stopped at the light. This is crazy common in many urban areas. Which also prevents drivers from getting into the left turn lanes, because too many empty spots are in between cars stopped in the straight through lanes at the light.

Ah, sorry I thought you meant moving stopping distances.

FWIW many are taught (even in regular driver ed) to stop to see the wheels ahead of you, which allows you to get out from behind stopped cars. In some urban contexts, this is also a tactical advantage (you are less likely to be pinned for carjacking), and is also taught in the relevant contexts. I admit I tend to do it in cities esp. if there are a lot of dicey looking people wandering around the intersections. 

I do hear you about blocking left turn lanes. The other thing is stopping short on left turns so you block the oncoming turner's vision and restrict his timing of action. But almost no one knows to "stop long" on a left turn and people seem to think you are doing something wild if you go past them. I digress...

On the topic of gear speed, a few here have advocated dropping gear early at higher speeds to modulate descent better. I did this a few days ago with a slam-dunk through turbulence and icing (didn't want to pop the brakes). It also helped stablize the plane in a fierce mountaintop crosswind and 6/10 (FlySto) turbulence. 

But it felt weird and I wondered if the gear doors were more likely to drift out of rig. 

Usually I try to carry a lot of speed in the descent, clean w/ or w/o brakes, if turbulence allows. 

D