I've never flown with a gear warning buzzer. I tried to install a
homemade affair on a PIK - the malfunctions were worse than not having
one. I decided to use it if factory installed or TSO'd - or fly without
if not. Still seems like the easiest of prevention aids.

T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
Maule Driver wrote:

the worse was
the promise of continued flight from a low altitude thermal. A 'save'
called for gear up and window closed so I can hear the audio variometer.
Losing the thermal at 500' means gear down, window open. I've been
'distracted' multiple times at 500' and performed that cross check
multiple times before saving or landing.

I have to agree, when far from home, and low, you set up for
a landing, you run the checks, look over the field, start
the pattern, but you aren't fully committed to landing yet.
It's not unusual to find lift low, retract the gear, then
lose it and have to land, remembering to extend the gear.
These times are the most intense periods of concentration
that I've ever encountered.

I used a quick visual check and mental "gear down" on final
to make sure I had it right. It was backed up by the
earlier pattern check and the subsequent gear warning buzzer
when I used the airbrakes. I remember one flight where the
gear was down at four different places, and at one of those
spots it was down three times, before I retracted it for the
last time and got away.