AviationBanter - View Single Post - Gentle take-offs at high speed

**Roy Smith** · November 11th 06, 05:35 PM posted to rec.aviation.student,rec.aviation.piloting

(Scott) wrote:
My gut tells me that I should't retract my gear until I have enough altitude
that, in the event of engine failure, there's enough time to extend the gear
again before landing. But I'm not a pilot yet, and I could be wrong.

It depends. If you're executing a maximum performance climb to clear
terrain, you need to get the gear up quickly. The gear being down adds a
huge amount of drag.

On a big runway, the usual mantra is to keep the gear down as long as
there's enough runway in front of you that you could land straight-ahead if
you had an engine failure. Even on the 6000 foot runway I fly from, that's
still only a few seconds after rotation.