Comanche accident averted last evening

Just another day of flying in the bay area yesterday - or so I thought.
It was past 7:45 pm. Beautiful evening sunset. Winds 330@12. No gusts.
No turbulence. I was on my third touch and go. A Comanche was inbound
and cleared to land on RWY31. I was cleared for the option (number two)
and requested a short approach. On right downwind, Tower instructed me
to do a Left 360 for separation with the Comanche so as to enable my
"short approach" request. After the 360, I re-entered midfield right
downwind and saw the Comanche go past the numbers... just beginning her
flare. At that very moment, Tower in a very calm (yet urgent) tone said
"No gear. Go around. No landing gear Comanche x-x-Yankee. Go around
now!". My eyes were popping out of my sockets as I saw the Comanche
pull away into the air with less than ten feet distance from the
runway. As I pulled my throttle and descended a few seconds later, I
heard the Comanche pilot thank the controller as he flew the pattern...
his voice shaking in disbelief. He said he did everything he usually
does... not sure how or why he missed extending the landing gear. I
don't think he slept well in the night. Thankfully, plane & pilot got
away without harm.

I have a new level of respect for ATC after what happened today. And an
even higher level of respect for Checklists!

- Aman

Towers at military fields issue a "check gear down" instruction along
with the landing clearance... I always thought that would be a good
idea for GA also.

It usually takes a while to get a Comanche slowed down enough so extending
the gear is more of a necessity. I usually keep my speed up pretty well
until closing in on the field which practically forces me to reach for the
gear lever to get slowed down enough. But things such as long straight in
approaches, or getting slowed down further out can lull you into a sense
of comfort. There's just no substitute for doing the GUMPS check religiously.

"kontiki" wrote in message
...
Towers at military fields issue a "check gear down" instruction along
with the landing clearance... I always thought that would be a good
idea for GA also.

So that's why they do it at KFOK (Gabreski/Suffolk County, NY). Doing touch
& goes there in a fixed-gear Cessna 172, ATC told me "check gear down" each
time. I must have sounded a little snotty when I replied, "I couldn't raise
the gear if I wanted to." On the other hand, I've never heard that at KSTW
and KBAF, which are also mixed-use GA/military fields.

They do it at KSTJ. The Air National Guard operates the tower there.
--
Gene Seibel
Gene & Sue's Aeroplanes - http://pad39a.com/gene/planes.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

Yes, FOK has a large ANG contingent so they always give you the "check
gear down, cleared to land" - in a fixed gear it's kind of funny but if
you transition to retractable, you may well appreciate that bit of wording.

FOK has a good resturant too, all the more reason!

Joe Johnson wrote:

"kontiki" wrote in message
...

Towers at military fields issue a "check gear down" instruction along
with the landing clearance... I always thought that would be a good
idea for GA also.


So that's why they do it at KFOK (Gabreski/Suffolk County, NY). Doing touch
& goes there in a fixed-gear Cessna 172, ATC told me "check gear down" each
time. I must have sounded a little snotty when I replied, "I couldn't raise
the gear if I wanted to." On the other hand, I've never heard that at KSTW
and KBAF, which are also mixed-use GA/military fields.

Robert Chambers wrote:
Yes, FOK has a large ANG contingent so they always give you the "check
gear down, cleared to land" - in a fixed gear it's kind of funny but if
you transition to retractable, you may well appreciate that bit of wording.


Yep, I learned from the National Guard pilots to make my report with the
"Gear Down":
27K Left Base, Gear Down.
That usually staves off them asking.

kontiki writes:

Towers at military fields issue a "check gear down" instruction along
with the landing clearance...

Do you have to positively ack the gear down instruction?

D.

--
PGP key at http://www.longhands.org/drg-pgp.txt Key Id:0x507D93DF

Dan Girellini wrote:

Do you have to positively ack the gear down instruction?

The first time I flew into a military base(in a 172), I got spooked
by the "check gear down" reminder. I thought that maybe the tower
knew something I didn't, so I actually looked out the window to verify
that my gear was still there.

Now when they say "check gear down" I just reply, "gear down and
welded in place".

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

"Dan Girellini" wrote in message
...
kontiki writes:

Towers at military fields issue a "check gear down" instruction along
with the landing clearance...

Do you have to positively ack the gear down instruction?

D.


No. You can if you want to though! :-) I used to fly a Seabee. You want
the gear UP for a water landing and the gear DOWN for a runway landing. I
used to announce "This is a WATER landing. The landing gear is UP" and then
look out my window at the gear and look at it and then say "My landing gear
is UP." For a land landing I would make suitable adjustments. Sometimes
passengers looked at me funny, but I never landed with the gear in the wrong
position! :-)

Highflyer
Highflight Aviation Services
Pinckneyville Airport ( PJY )

Highflyer wrote:

No. You can if you want to though! :-) I used to fly a Seabee. You want
the gear UP for a water landing and the gear DOWN for a runway landing. I
used to announce "This is a WATER landing. The landing gear is UP" and then
look out my window at the gear and look at it and then say "My landing gear
is UP." For a land landing I would make suitable adjustments. Sometimes
passengers looked at me funny, but I never landed with the gear in the wrong
position! :-)
In the seabee it's a bigger deal to land gear down in the water than
gear up on the land. Just a little scraping and difficulty with taxi.