Dear 'bumper',

Good luck in remaining in the third category!

You have been saved from a wheel up landing on one
occasion by a gear up warning device. I was not so
lucky!

I believe that you said in a previous piece that it
was in a Mooney, i.e. is a powered aircraft. Power
flying tends to be a bit more structured than gliding
in terms of checklists etc, but then you have more
time to carry them out during the mini cross-countries
that power circuits seem to have become.

OK, I will concede that a few glider pilots go through
their careers without a wheel up landing, but they
are probably in the minority, or fly fixed gear types
anyway.

I have never understood the arguments against pre-landing
checks or undercarriage warning devices, which I will
list:

1) You might forget to do the check, or get it wrong!
2) You shouldn't rely on something that could go wrong
and fail to operate
3) An U/C warning device going off late on finals could
distract a pilot and cause him to have a serious accident,
rather than a minor scrape.

On the other hand:
1) In gliders, the U/C warning device is normally linked
to the airbrake lever. If you unlock the airbrakes
with the wheel up, the warning device should sound.
I normally unlock the airbrakes, but hold them shut,
on the base leg, so if the warning did go off, I would
have plenty of time to sort the problem out.

2) Undercarriages provide a degree of shock absorption
in the event of a heavy landing. A heavy wheel up landing
is much more likely to injure the pilot and seriously
damage the glider.

3) If I am warned at the last minute that I have left
the gear up, I don't necessarily have to try and lower
it. I can either head for a grass area, rather than
a tarmac runway, or aim to land as gently as possible.
I would rather know!

With pre-landing checks plus an U/C warning device,
at least two things have to go wrong before a gear
up landing can occur. Why not use the available techiques
and technology?

Derek Copeland



At 16:12 26 November 2005, Bumper wrote:

'Derek Copeland' wrote in
There are only two sorts of pilots - Those who have
already landed gear up, and those who will some day.

No offense, but that, of course, is hog-wash. There
is a large third
category of pilots: 'Those who use whatever tools are
available to them to
fly safely and NOT land gear up during their entire
flying career.'

I intend to remain in this latter group.

all the best,

bumper
(2000+ hours in retractable since 1991 and no belly
scratches yet. One gear
warning save during training.)