For what its worth, for many years now as I transition to a new
glider, one of the first things I add is two small squares of colored
plastic tape, a green block at the end of the "gear down and locked"
end of the handle travel, and a red block at the "gear retracted" end
of the handle travel.

As I turn final, I will often take a quick glance at the gear lever to
make sure it is at the "green" end.

Bob

On 18 Nov 2005 16:45:40 GMT, Nyal Williams
wrote:

There is a solution to this problem; I learned it the
hard way. Say to yourself 'The gear HANDLE is at the
gear-down ICON. A fellow in Minden told me this beforehand.
I didn't pay a lot of attention. I paid a lot of
money. Now I use this phrase religiously.


I switched between three new to me gliders in 4 days.
The retract movement was in opposite directions on
two of them. I went the lwrong way on the last flight.
Use the words HANDLE and ICON.



At 22:24 16 November 2005, Marc Ramsey wrote:
Mike the Strike wrote:
I prefer check lists, but must note I have seen another
colleague
return from a flight with gear extended then retract
it on final as he
went through his pre-landing checks!

Same thing happened to me on my first flight in the
first glider I
owned. On pattern entry I went through my pre-landing
checklist,
operated the gear handle, opened the spoilers, then
heard a load beeping
noise. Closed the spoilers, beeping stopped. It took
a fair bit of
contemplation to recognize that the glider might have
a gear warning
system. A quick glance at the gear position symbols
allowed me to solve
the mystery while still plenty high. I must have forgotten
to retract
the gear after release...

Marc