Jim Macklin wrote:

Years ago, a co-pilot for a local corporation asked me to
ride-shotgun in their old C 310 on a night flight in the
local area. After ILS at KHUT and KICT with various airwork,
we setup for the final landing at KICT on 19R.
At 200 feet I asked my friend a question, like this. "I do
most of my instruction in the Duchess and Baron and they
have green lights to show the gear position, doesn't Cessna
do that?"


The gear lights were completely out. He had not looked, had
just gone by the sound and drag change when he moved the
lever. But a quick go-around solved the immediate problem
and some careful troubleshooting and wire tightening and
bulb swaps got us three green after about 30 more minutes.

The things that kill, controls locked (or rigged backward-
happens), no fuel are definite before take-off rechecks.
There aren't too many killers on landing assuming that you
have a place to land within fuel range, but landing gear up
is rarely a mechanical failure that couldn't have been
prevented by proper maintenance. If your flying a Baron or
Bonanza, the gear is operated by three steel push-pull rods
connected to a solid gear housing. If one wheel is down,
they all have to be unless the rod has become disconnected
or bent. One the bigger Beech twins, the main gear is
push-pull rods, but the nose gear is a bicycle chain, which
can break or jump the sprocket. It should be replaced and a
new sprocket used too every so often.

Good maintenance and a good pilot make retract gear safe,
either one missing and you have problems.

Retracts are pretty safe even if the gear is up. It just makes the
landing fee much, much higher. :-)


Matt