Why Gear Up Landings Happen
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- Gear-up landings in retractable aircraft don't happen everyday, but they happen often enough that the accident file is rich with examples. In this video, AVweb's Paul Bertorelli analyzes some of the stats on gear ups and offers suggestion on how to avoid them. Here are some excellent links on the footage used.
• EMERGENCY GEAR UP LAND...
• LOT 767 Emergency Land...
• King Air Gear Up Landing
• Beechcraft 95 gear up ...
www.sanluisobis...
• SCFS N2623C Gear Up La...
• 1960 Cessna 210 Gear R...
• Cessna 310 Gear Up Lan...
Excellent analysis!
Just want to add a strong vote in favor of Paul's recommendation "land on a runway, not on the grass." In the case of my experience, a bolt had broken in the gear on takeoff and no wheels could not be lowered by any means. After a tower fly-by to confirm that all wheels were 80% up, I elected the grass. This was a mistake, as a clod of dirt pushed up into the belly of the plane and caused a rib to bend. This structural damage upped the determination from "incident" to "accident" and caused an extra week of repairs that would not have been necessary if I had chosen the runway. Lesson learned!
Another shock came when the airport I had selected for landing submitted a trumped-up bill for dozens of hours of "fire watch" and "overnight security." The crooked airport manager smelled an opportunity to line the pockets of everyone on his staff and despite my telling them that the claimed man-hours absolutely did not happen, the insurance company paid the bill anyway. So the second lesson learned: don't just land where you had originally intended to land. Get to a safe altitude, make a cell phone call, and find a airport within comfortable cruising distance that has a well-regarded maintenance shop! Land there, and avoid possible expensive and delaying transportation by truck.
Good advice for sure. What type aircraft had the broken bolt?
"Get to a safe altitude, make a cell phone call, and find a airport within comfortable cruising distance that has a well-regarded maintenance shop! Land there, and avoid possible expensive and delaying transportation by truck." Now that's wisdom.
+Jewish Privilege Get your racist bullshit out of here.
Any airport personnel taking advantage of an emergency situation is not going to be an airport where I will ever land again! Yes, even airports can have crooked staff! Insurance companies shouldn't pay for disputed charges, because they will just raise your rates if they do!
mdickinson ......I know exactly what you mean about crooked airport staff . My brother borrowed my 172 parked it didn’t chock the wheels (engine off )it rolled into a hanger door making a hole about an inch around . The insurance adjuster ask me to meet him at the airport the door had been damaged by something red 12 foot up ( my plane is green and white ) .The manger said all the damage on the door was done by my plane and had a quote to skin the whole door 40x16 . The adjuster ask the airport manager if he wanted to continue because insurance fraud was a serious crime. The insurance company paid $40 for the 2x4 panel .
What’s the first thing you do AFTER a gear up landing? Put the gear handle in the DOWN position.
;)
One of our Baron owners tried that but forgot to reset his circuit breaker Haha, we put it on Jack's and it worked perfectly! hahaha
Todd Shellnutt That should be on the checklist for RG pilots! Very funny Todd.
hahaha
😉👍🏻
Excellent video as usual from Paul. The best gizmo I came across is a small pretend landing gear lever you can stick onto the instrument panel of fixed-gear planes.
I feel this is a great idea because right from Day 1 of training the student in the fixed gear plane can be told to say "+ve rate, gear up" and do "GUMPS" on finals. As they progress up the training ladder to retracts this mindset will already be ingrained in them.
Some weird s%$t. I like this guy. Facts with just the right amount of humor.
Yeah, I thought that was kinda funny, too.
His a pilot , pilots ONLY work with a very good sence of humour ! ! !
He's known for it.
His head looks like he was stepped on as a baby
steve beuchert wtf
I remember that video years ago of a C210 circling in Fort Worth trying to get the gear down. They even managed to get the baggage door open in flight and reach out to push on the legs. It just wouldn’t budge and they had to belly it in. It was such a smooth landing. I think they kept it on the center line too.
I fit in the 30% category: Bonanza A36, ferry from the factory, less than ten hours on airframe and power plant. At the destination of the flight, the gear would not come down even manually. I cut the engine, slid it on the runway, and the starboard wing caught fire from leaking fuel. I departed the aircraft when it stopped. I tripped off the wing because it was on the ground. The insurance company paid, it flew in seven months. Your tutorial is very well done, and practical. Nice work Mr. Bertorelli. Thank you.
I'll add comment on "almost" gear up landing. my usual routine was when I entered downwind I'd put the gear down. (North American NAvion) on this occasion I was entering downwind into the pattern, no other aircraft, just as I was going to put the gear down the airport announced the change of landing direction- no problem I changed to mid field crosswind entry into the downwind for the other side of the runway. this change of entry just as I was to put the gear down allowed me to forget the gear altogether- when I was over the thresh hold and reduced engine RPM the gear horn went off, with no time to do a go around I put the gear down, got 3 green about 2-3 seconds before touch down. lesson learned checklist checklist checklist
Two things helped me over the last 50 years and 11,000 hours. One is the thought gear down to go down. When it's time for the final descent to land the gear furnish the drag to make that happen. The other is something my dad taught me. That is to look down and do a quick check for gear down lights as I cross the airfield boundary. I noticed as a kid flying with my dad him doing that giving the lights a touch with his finger ...
I was in a Piper Malibu that was just serviced a week before. We flew from St Martin CA to San Diego and Pomona CA and then back to St Martin in the evening. I went to lower the landing gear on approach and only got 2 out of 3 gear lights. the Nose gear had problems. Did 6 cycles ..and got a nose gear light. We landed with fire department ready and waiting. the Nose gear held up. !! I immediately took a flashlight and saw hydraulic fluid leaked all over the nose gear. the service mechanic failed to tighten a hydraulic fitting...DOH
Was there a reason why he forgot to tighten the fitting? Maybe the phone rang or somebody knocked on his door or he had to use the toilet which threw him out of sequence?
Hey SFBay, just another poor mechanic who didn't go over his check list
Hydraulic fluid all over the gear? Pilot in command who didn't look at his undercarriage before going up bears ultimate responsibility. Blaming the mechanic is not going to make him a better pilot; or someone I want to fly with.
And what if there was no fluid present during the preflight? Connection may have vibrated loose during the flight or perhaps the constant pressure from that flight time finally got too much for the incorrectly tightened fitting. Is he still someone that you won't fly with, huh?
Andrew..you are a Clown... the hydraulic fitting came loose during the return flight
When I was maybe age 18 I worked at a famous airport in the Northeast back around 1970 as a line boy. It was a clear but very dark night with no moon. There had been an electrical failure and the runway lights went dead. A few employees got into their cars and pointed their car's headlights toward the beginning of the runway so that all the planes that were landing for the evening had some perspective. I was on my motorcycle when the guy next to me said "hey that guy in the Bonanza has his gear up. Well, he landed and I saw so many sparks I thought his plane blew up.
The sparks seemed to light up the whole airport, but the Bonanza did not burn, nor did anything unusual happen. But being a young excited kid, I drove to the nearest phone and called the police and told them the airplane had crashed and was on fire. The next thing I saw was about 10 fire trucks and maybe 20 police cars drive onto the runway. Of course, by this time, the pilot was standing outside his airplane, very embarrassed. A few of the firemen lifted up his plane about 4 feet off the ground. The pilot lowered his landing gear and they towed his plane away.
I never told anybody until now that I was the guy who called the police and said the plane blew up. God, please forgive me. Hail Mary full of grace......
Thank You for bringing these videos, this is probably one of the most avoidable incidents, however like you said 45% are mechanical and maintenance issues.
Lol the ' fresh upholstery' comment cracked me up. XD
With the comments about saving insurance companies money there are a lot of aircraft flying without insurance. Great video
Paul, I love your commentary - it's fun and informative. I've been learning a lot watching your videos and I'm not a pilot but a sailor. I like sailing in strong winds with big waves and putting my ocean yacht through her paces. Safety is really important to me as I sail mostly alone and don't want to end up on the evening news. A lot of what you talk about I can apply to sailing. Like making sure your equipment is inspected on the ground, for me that is at the dock. Having the proper safety equipment on board and make sure it's serviceable - I always wear a life jacket, no exceptions; carry a portable vhf on my person and wear a sail harness in heavy weather. I have gotten into trouble but like you say always have a plan B. Thanks for reinforcing the message no matter which sport you participate in and be professional.
My instructor taught me an easy "short final checklist" and I say it during every final in my Baron: "3 GREEN, SCREW THE REST!" It's funny and it works!
For my ATP we were told to call for the landing checklist by saying "Gear down, landing checklist"
What about flaps?
I sincerely hope no one here has problems remembering flaps... being that on approach there are actual physical reminders and all. That would kind of be like forgetting to apply brakes when approaching a red light.
"...don't forget to smile, someone is probably filming it" Hahahaha, thumbed up :)
We replaced our gear horn with a 5 dollar alarm siren that will pierce your brain and you cannot ignore the warning.
Yeah, we had that in the 1964 Mooney. The gear horn comes on at or below 14 inches of MP or lower. After a while you get so used to it you forget the gear is still up. Gear horns are good, but only so far. It depends on how you fly your airplane. Gear horns are good if you set it in you mind that as soon as you hear it, you will put down the gear. Otherwise, it's just another distraction in a very busy Class D environment. IMHO.
hehehehe love it
@@daffidavit the siren we installed is so incredibly obnoxious you just cannot ignore it or forget about it. The decibel range on this siren falls right between "I would rather dig my ear drums out with a fork" and "I want to pour gasoline in my ears and light it on fire"
I imagine most pilots know the tale of the tower controller asking a guy who just landed gear up why he didn't heed the controller's warning about it on final. "Couldn't hear you with that *$#&! horn blaring."
I've been flying for 38 years and that's one of the best analysis on gear up landings I've seen.
Of particular note is the analysis on pilots shutting down engines to save props. That is something I always said complicates the situation and can make things much worse. I've received no small amount of static for making that analysis myself. It seems some people just can't make the correlation that shutting down engines prior to touchdown is actually compounding the emergency.
Shutting down engines at touchdown is much better than shutting down engines prior to touchdown if one is going to shut down engines.
In the video I linked to below the pilot chose to shut down the engines well prior to touchdown. This was videoed live on CNN. The anchor mentioned what a great job the pilot did and how appropriate it was to shut the engines down when he did. I don't agree at all. He turned his plane into a glider and compounded his emergency. Now in addition to the nose gear being retracted, he has a dual engine failure and no ability to go around.
In the comments section of the linked video below, I mentioned that this was probably not a good idea for the reasons I stated. This was around two years ago. The amount of static I got for saying that is in the reply.
In addition to compounding his emergency by creating a dual engine failure the pilot in the below linked video was distracting himself from the landing by bumping the props with the starter switch all the way to the runway. This probably contributed to the instability of his pitch control at touch down where he almost dragged the tail. The pitch instability is apparent.
I don't expect news anchors to know what a good landing is and their opinions are usually skewed by ignorance. Pilots however should know this.
In the quest to save several thousand dollars for the insurance company or oneself if one owns their own plane and is stupid enough to not have insurance, many pilots risk hundreds of thousands of dollars and the lives of everyone aboard to do that.
Read the comments in the video I linked below to see what the popular opinion is.
No one noticed that the pilot landed in the displaced threshold, well short of the runway. With both engines shutdown, he had no choice. Lucky for him there was no sudden wind shift to a stronger headwind or he could have landed short of the displaced threshold. How much money would he have saved then?
th-cam.com/video/dH_AzTvnN_Q/w-d-xo.html
Rick Durden in "Thinking Pilots Flight Manual" would agree with You.
It compounds the emergency, distracts the pilot, removes all options, increases workload substantially, and still doesn't save the props. The engine manufacturers recommend teardown anyway. If its a comemrcial op, the FAA mandates overhauls for gear up landings, even if the props don't make contact with anything! Its not part of the requirement.
If you are suddenly surprised by the sound of props striking from not putting the gear down. Do NOT try to throttle up and go around. Let it slide to a stop and LIVE.
Once the props bend the performance goes out the window and so many people die from thinking they will go around and get the gear down.
I am surprised Paul Bertorelli missed this important point. The gear-up landing may not be particularly deadly, but attempting to go around is one way to turn a bad day in to a worse day, and maybe in to your very last day.
You mean there are idiots that would hear and feel something like that happen and think "Wow, I should get further from the ground again." I hope nobody I ever fly with is that stupid.
You say that so glibly while flying an armchair.
Landings can be stressful. People will do terrifyingly stupid things while fatigued or under stress. Also note, you might not "hear" much. You'd probably feel the prop strike and you might not recognize it right away for what it is.
The reason I trained frequently and read everything I could was because I did not want to find out what a prop strike sounds like.
saw a chieftain do an accidental gear up in the Yukon several years ago. pilot went around with bent props and made another landing with gear down. I agree he should have pulled the mixtures and slid it in. had 2 passengers on board that said the plane was shaking violently. scared the crap out of them. the odds of him losing both engines in the circuit after that were tremendously high.
I've heard or have seen that happen.Can't remember which it was so long ago. But a guy in a twin, maybe a piper, scrapped the runway with his props gear up and flew a long way back to his home airport many miles away with vibrating props.
"After landing, the occupants usually un-ass the thing like snakes on a plane." This is my new favorite sentence
Me too!
lol AirForceProud95 was given credit for the video he took
Reese O'Connor Just got done watching a few of his videos and seen this lol
Reese O'Connor He is the guy that likes to mess with the F18 in FSimX right?
It's AirProduct94
Reese O'Connor Yes because this guy is using it, that's why...
I don't think afp95 took it, I think he recorded it.
don't forget to smile, someones probably filming it... haha.
Had a nose gear light not illuminate on a Queen Air 65 down in Mexico. At about 2pm with the sun showing my shadow on the ground at 500 feet, I could see that my nose gear was indeed down. It was. So use your head & think for out of the box solutions! From then on I always kept gear light bulbs nearby.
Eastern Airlines flight 401 kept some spare gear light bulbs in the cockpit of their Lockheed L-1011 Tristar too... Pity nobody was flying the aircraft while all 3 crew members watched the first officer try to replace the light bulb while they crashed.
musicalaviator .....I wonder if the light bulb survived? I hope so!
#light bulb lives matter
correction, #lamplivesmattter, a bulb goes in the ground. Not so sure about L.E.D. lives, since they live so long....
I carry an extra set of landing gear in my overnight bag as well.
I too had a gear up landing in my Mooney M20 after being unable to extend them. I also shut down the motor on long final saving my prop and motor. As you know props are very expensive and prop strikes are an automatic engine tear down for a crank inspection. All I had to do was lift the plane, extend the gear and tow it into a hanger to repair the gear malfunction. No real panel damage since I put it down on a grass strip. Two years later I sold it to a guy who did forget to extend the gear costing him a prop, engine and heavy panel damage. He told me the gear warning indicator was screaming at him, but didn't hear it!
I didn't have insurance at the time, hence save everything possible from damage.
Do you need to have insurance on an airplane the way you have insurance on a car in CA?
Hanger? Really? So you "hang" the plane?
insurance or not, you may just want to save your beloved airplane.
some people actually like their airplanes.
SanFranciscoBay No.
"If they can get a washing-machine to fly, my Jimmy can land it." -Best quote from Apollo 13
Second best, just after: "We got to find a way to make this, fit into the hole for this... using nothing but that."
@@windwalker5765 One of my fav from that movie. Legendary.
Holy crap, B-1B gear up landing. That's an expensive mistake.
Expensive, yes. Write off? Probably not.
The majority of gear up landings have the aircraft repaired within a week.
No worries, we the people have got 'em covered! Send us the bill!
Kinda have to disagree with that F Huber! There's props, engines to be removed and sent out for propstrike inspections, repairs of the bottom skin, maybe a new nose cone on a twin, fiberglass repair, cowl flaps, flaps, sometimes a wing hits a taxi light, not to mention paintwork, ordering new antennas, and other things hanging off the bottom.
Here said B-1B Lancer gear up landing www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/bombers4.html still flying to this day.
I appreciate this video VERY much. I fly corporate and got distracted on long final by an ATC order to go around, ATC also advised they needed time to sort out what was preventing landings, ordered me to higher holding altitude and speed. So; I elected to reduce landing gear drag and clammed up.
When I got clearance to land again, I also went through my approach and landing check list, again, which is bullets and briefs, written down, and easily visible day or night, and not blocking gauges.
I was confident all was well until I got to GEAR DOWN: I was surprised I did not remember GEAR UP. So; DOWN they went. Never assume, always check, then recheck if possible, and have a visible check list. I got flustered because I swore to myself, "I KNOW I lowered the gear." But did not remember raising gear.
So, with ego working too much, I finally realized I am now distracted !!
LESSON: every once in a while, or, as often as necessary, one has to shuttle the ego to the off ramp and fly - aviat; navigate; communicate ... use the disciplines of self-control and aviation knowledge. Those habits build solid, reliable experience and expertise. Those repetitions build confidence but confidence is not substitute for an up to date check list. A check list keeps you aware, attentive, and alive.
It does not matter how much pilot experience one has because, most every landing/take off check list procedure is the same. Some exceptions relate to weather, icing, and traffic. But the basic check list does not vary very much - EXCEPT - every landing and take off - EVERY SINGLE ONE - is NEVER the same especially and including touch-and-go.
Never assume, be complacent, because that can get you killed. I always keep looking up, down, side to side, and as far to the rear in those actions as possible for that errant Cessna or 777 taking air space they should not be taking - or did you just get into air space for which you were not cleared ...
O :( M :( G :(
Never assume anything. Check it, prove it, anticipate, and fly accordingly.
Great video. It was a welcome refresher training !
Great piece. Should be required viewing for any (non aviation specific) media outlet.
While working on the pax ramp at HXD saw a twin, not sure of the type (King Air?), make a gear up landing. Unfortunately, our AC was on final and had to divert. Pilot told first responders he had his noise canceling headphones on and didn't hear the warning tone.
Paul. your excellent commentary makes this video one of the best within the aviation education offerings. I am now a fan and thank you, from Maine.
Very intersting review well done. As a non pilot but still a very experienced passenger including growing up in the airforce. I did not know about 90% of the points this gentleman raised. Thank you. This made sense.
Thank you, Paul. Way good info and you have a VERY nice camera persona. You have the knack of coming across as an intelligent and personable celebrity that I can learn something from and be entertained by. There is no talking down to. I look forward to seeing all your videos and nobody put me up to saying that. Safe travels.
My grandfather- a WWII pilot and career aerospace engineer- had a belly landing with all three landing gear partially lowered on his privately-owned Piper _Commanche_ PA-24 (180?) in the mid-1990s. One of his friends at the small airport had a VHS camera handy and recorded the perfect emergency landing, which then made the local evening news! (We inherited the original VHS tape recording when my grandfather died a few years later, and still have it to this day.) The prop was bent, the engine exhaust pipe was grated down and the belly was scratched up a bit, but the damage was _very_ limited due to the personal skill of the pilot.
I do not remember the cause of the mechanical malfunction ( _all three gear_ were _partially_ extended, and several attempts were made to shake them down before the landing), but the _Commanche_ was up and flying regularly again a few months later!
Clear, straight to the point and very educational.
Thank you.
that all works until you fly an amphibious airplane... Then it gets really complicated. I usually fly my Lake Amphiban and then always use the phrase: "gear down for runway landing" and on short final: "runway in front, confirm gear is down".. Similar on the water: " gear up for water landing" and on final "water in front, confirm gear is up". I always do this, no matter what airplane I fly. This is sometimes funny if you fly with a glider or a fixed gear single, sometimes passengers ask "where else would you like to land other than a runway?"
I remember years ago when the 210 first came out, a reviewer said in his review that the landing gear looks like a malfunction during transit. The 172R has the same look.
..210s have had 3 different systems over the yrs..the 182 and 172 rgs do not have the 210 main gearpack system
I enjoyed this video alot! You explain things in a way that is understandable for a non-pilot who is curious to learn.
This is why I love Mr. Aviation 101's final checklist, which he verbalizes loudly to the occupants, which includes "Gear down and locked- Welded" (he flies a Cessna 172 normally, which has fixed gear) which is a great checklist to run for any general aviation airplane.
Regardless of type, if you are not verbalizing your checklists at the appropriate points in flight, you're doing it wrong.
Everyone in the airplane should know that you have run the checklist and everything has been satisfied. To do anything else is to be remiss as a PIC..............................
Paul, excellent production / minor comment. The overhead lights reflecting on your glasses is a distraction.I suggest the glasses off or lights off or simply hold your head down a bit. I assume you are reading. That is why your head goes back. It’s a natural reaction when your lenses are not strong enough. Your eyes are using the bottom of the lens to see more clearly. It’s like squinting without actually squinting.
Working as a line mechanic at a small airport for 3 years I did a recovery for a gear collapse and witnessed 2 gear up landings due to mechanical failure. A 172RG had an actuator split on one of the mains and another where a nose wheel didn't lock down even with the gear down indicator light on. With the engines the props normally get scrapped or overhauled and the engine inspection consists mainly inspecting the accessory gears in the back of the engine. Jugs get removed for con rod damage inspection too.
I owned a Beech C33 Debonair for ten years. I managed to avoid a gear up landing but only just. On base leg with GUMP checks done and gear down, the tower gave me a change of runway. I retracted the gear but found the flight path to the new runway was shorter than I expected with a full pattern not required. I didn't do a second GUMP check. It was only my habit of checking the gear on mid final that saved me from a wheels up landing. I really miss that sweet little plane. I flew it all over Australia.
5:01 was in Hillsboro Oregon.. I helped recover that airplane! I was a line service manager on call the night they came in.. the line service guys called me in a big panic! watched as the Rcaf fixed the airplane in one of our hangars and flew it home too. Pretty cool to see the picture! thanks AVweb
I gave my brother a cheap 12v alarm system siren that is smaller than a pager and so incredibly loud you simply CANNOT miss it. We put it in his Navion and it's perfect. This thing pierces your soul when it activates.
Two words: paper checklist. If you follow a checklist every time, gear up will only happen when it malfunctions.
This does leave you more susceptible to distractions though - if something happens that distracts you from your paper check list are you more likely to forget things?
More words: All the checklists.
Paper Checklist
Followed up by Mnemonic on downwind.
Followed by a finals check on finals.
Then a "last chance" check at 200ft.
Never used one for over a decade. Never forgot the gear once. Extend at 3 mile final or downwind, check with each flap extension, and a short final check... handle, indicator, and visual (wing mirrors).
Paper checklists are cumbersome to use single pilot as they often contain far more information than they need to and it's easy to lose your place and forget stuff.
Bartonovich52 It's the guys who land float-planes, on water, with the *gear* *down* , sometimes killing someone, who really have convinced me that checklists are required every time. It has gotten to the point that I don't think I'll fly with pilots who don't read (and recite out loud) checklists.
I GUMP it on downwind, base and again on final, OUT LOUD. I also touch the green light(s). Our Mooney has a single red and green light with a manual "Johnson Bar". The Johnson bar is counter-intuitive. That is, when the gear is up, the bar is down and when the gear is down the bar is up.
In order to avoid confusion after I pull the bar up to lower the gear, I ask my wife to say out loud "we got a Johnson". I always smile. She never gets it. But it does confirm when the handle is up, I'm happy.
Love your videos. Straight to the point and no dragging or boring information. Keep up the good work. Subscribed
My uncle owned a 210 with retractable gear. He had a couple thousand hours in that airplane….and still got caught landing without extending the gear. He knew everything there was to know about that aircraft! And still it happened. He felt horrible, but maybe it ended up giving him a great, high-time lesson. It’s never happened to him again! He told me that there is that split second between when he expected the wheels to touch, and then when he realized in horror that he forgot that critical step! He said that the stall warning was howling it’s fool head off as he kept holding it off….. His first reaction was to “firewall” the throttle and then go around, but by then, the belly is scraping its way down the runway. He said further that when the airplane came to a stop, the view out the front windshield freaked him out because he was suddenly so low to the ground. Interesting perspectives! Funny, I don’t recall him saying anything about a gear warning going off. I’ll ask next time I see him…but that was so many years ago.
Good video, thanks for making it. There’s a video of a big fire fighting plane inadvertently landing with no gear.
When I was a kid my dad owned a 1/4 share in a Cessna 177 RG. It looked like a sports car, just an incredibly beautiful plane. Once, one of the other partners (My dad's best friend) landed at Burbank, coming in and making a nearly perfect landing, except for the minor problem of the landing gear. He used a check list, but as he was going through it he got a call from the Tower and ended up missing a step.
The weird thing was, the gear warning horn was working just fine. And the warning to had been wired to play (quite loudly) into the head phones for the radio.
I have seen several other accidents like this, where the gear warning horn can clearly be heard, but for whatever reason the pilot doesn't hear it, or understand it. I wish you had addressed this issue.
This is not just a problem for GA pilots. At the Air Force Base I grew up near, a C-5 crew was doing touch and goes. Apparently they were getting annoyed by the gear warning horn, so the pulled the breaker that powered it. What happened next is easy to guess at. Needless to say, that pilot no longer had a flying job in the USAF.
Not long after this I was talking to a different C-5 pilot. He told me that the pilot sits so high up, and the landing gears are so short, you can't really tell you've landed gear up until you stop on the runway then pow up to taxi to the ramp. He said you might see flashing lights and look over to see the fire trucks coming, and that's how you learn your career in the Air Force has just ended.
Have you seen this one? It just seems that what this guy did was really not a good idea. At the point he touches down he is on the ground at an airport. Taking off again with an unknown amount of damage just seems stupid to me.
th-cam.com/video/sgdSflSCTQM/w-d-xo.html
I have three hundred hours flying retractable Piper Arrows (I own one!). My original high performance / complex aircraft training leading to endorsement was in a flight school rental. I was taught GUMPS, just as Paul endorses, without over emphasizing. I continued GUMPS even with my first plane, which was a Cherokee 150. "Gear: Wheels down, locked, and welded." That got some rye comments from passengers. But I did it to never lose my rhythm because I knew it was just a matter of time before I would own a retractable, as I do now.
However, the flight-school owner that I bought the Arrow from, after I asked him how things were going, said "great if people would quit crashing my airplanes!" Then he told me a story about a different Arrow that had enjoyed a belly up landing because the student and the instructor were distracted by the "G" for gas. He said, "for crying out loud, you have plenty of fuel, don't worry about it!"
After that, I switched my landing protocol to cockpit flow followed by landing checklist. I still worry about fuel, but I do that within the framework of my normal 30 minute tank switching, NOT my landing cockpit flow. It works better for me because I establish a firm process to fight off the distractions.
1. Three nm from IAF or intercepting the final approach course, I set PAC to 90 knots and flaps 10 degrees.
2. When on the published IAP, I do a cockpit flow BEGINNING with gear down and wait for three green. Then it is throttle (increased to maintain altitude at 90 knots with gear down). Followed in quick succession by propeller set to 2500 (later, after reducing power to descend, I'll set propeller to full advance), mixture rich, boost fuel pump on, landing light on, pitot heat on (if needed). This flow fits perfectly with the layout of gear handle, throttle quadrant, and switches on the instrument panel of a PA28R-201.
After giving some attention to other cockpit chores, such as scanning instruments, I perform the landing checklist printed on the instrument panel in front of me.
But even that is not good enough. Just like Paul said, as I slide down the glide path toward short final, I do at least one or two more checks of the gear lights and speak out loud "three green" to myself and my passengers on the intercom.
My wife shakes her head when she hears "three green" over and over, but we all know that only the paranoid survive WITHOUT a gear up landing claim on their insurance.
I think most of us might have been trained to shut down the engines prior to touching down during a gear up emergency landing. Although he makes valid points about leaving them running in event of a go around. However, if a prop strikes while spinning it becomes useless and not only will that engine fail to produce thrust but the prop impacting the ground could torque the aircraft into a wing strike or if only one prop strikes you could end up with significant adverse yaw at speeds close to Vmc. Would love to hear anyone's opinions on whether or not to shut down the engine
I feel that if you are close enough to the runway for the prop to strike then you have all ready passed the point of the option to go around.
This is by far the best landing video I've seen! Excellent explanation and great common sense! I couldn't agreed more to all points! Love to see more videos from this guy, I'm sure he's a great pilot
In general - gear up landings occur as a result of the landing gear being in the 'up' position.
Serious question: As a software developer, I'm noticing that these subsystems are mostly independent of each other. Why is the retractable landing gear not linked to a laser that measures the distance to the ground, regardless of elevation? Why burden the pilot with workload that can be automated? Laser distance finders have been used for over a decade in golf and construction. Why not eliminate the possibility for distraction?
Newer airplanes have ‘gear alarms’ that work based off either speed, engine power, flap setting, or a mix of the above, to create a loud alarm if the landing gear isn’t down and locked. The problem is that the vast majority of light aircraft flying today were built in the 60s and 70s, before this technology was added.
I can’t see why a laser based system wouldn’t work just as well, but my guess is that new parts for airplanes need to go through a massive approval process before being allowed to fly, as they have to be proven to be extremely safe and reliable.
- new subscriber here!
Must have been sent here because I was looking at aircraft in the video game GTAV Online. Gotta say this is some interesting stuff. I've forgotten to put landing gear down in games and felt like an idiot - in real life I could only imagine what that would be like. I'm just glad no-one gets hurt when I pilot in-game - only feelings!
Interesting to see the similarities between real life flying and video game crashes. It's easy to understand how a real pilot could get overwhelmed with what's going on! What I don't understand is how this video gets any dislikes???
Keep up doing what you do bud- can't say enough for this kind of knowledge.
Paul, I enjoy your straight forward approach always enjoy watching your videos!
A little story.
Back a few years now, I purchased a great deal at a DEA auction of a Aztec, in pristine condition, just no log books,(turned out later the engines were factory new) which was typical of drug planes. The plane was at Opa Locka in Miami and I needed to take it to Tamiami Exec, so did all the checks, everything was great, put fresh fuel in, felt real good. A friend of mine and I went to do the short ferry and a third took the car back. We took off, flew like a dream, loved the plane and was already thinking about trips to plan for. we decided to go straight out and fly a bit before dark, ya know check the beaches out. A bit later we headed for Exec, all was fine till I noticed we had NO green lights on the gear down, had to abort the landing, notify the twr and head out to the glades a bit to check out the issue, did some slow gear down checks, still no lights. We contacted Exec and they said how about some flyby's so they could take a look, it was almost dark so we did probably 3-4 close flyby's with no for sure answers on whether the gear looked locked or not. Then Rescue One, Helo Rescue here in Miami-Dade was out flying, so they wanted to fly under us to take a look with their spot light. never done any formation and that was pretty close slow flying, my friend was really nervous. we went out a few miles west on the edge of the Everglades and they proceeded to check the gear. They said it looked down, but wouldn't guarantee it. RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT, I notice a small aircraft our of the corner of my eye, VERY CLOSE to a midair, I veered to my right, yelled over the radio, collision !!! The helo pilot later told me he heard nothing but a yell. LOL ! The pathetic VFR pilot in a piper cub, probably with no radio, almost took us , in the Aztec and the crew of 4 in the Rescue helo OUT all at once. Talk about 9 lives !
I radioed the twr and said it's now or never, no more taking risks of others. We went in, with all the crews ready , that had come in from surrounding fire stations and landed , maybe my best landing ever, smooth as can be, no collapse, held and we taxied over to do the accident report, of no accident,lol. Got to hug the Helo pilots and crew, we all went home safe that night.
The next day I had the shop at my TBO take a look at the Aztec. Some dildo drug smuggler had put a dimmer dial on the gear indicator lights to black out the cabin on some of their drug runs. All of that over a dimmer switch ! Moral of this story, check the gear on purchased drug planes.
I know I wasn't alone that night, you just know.
That is quite an amazing story. One I won't forget. Thanks for the info. prebuy inspection vs. " Drug plane prebuy inspection"
Really good vid. The communication is locker room and yet I imagine it's easy for even non pilots. Well executed, with reasonable ascertainment of retractable craft.
vilhelm schmit j and
Paul
You're good at this, thankyou
Watch a lot of videos of small plane videos and I see a lot of check list use. I applaud pilots that do this.
During flight training in light twins a friend of mine had a theory that a pilot will subconsciously associate the configuration/gear warning horn with flying asymmetric (engine out) as that condition triggers the horn (one throttle low, gear up) and so much time in training on a twin for that engine out scenario. During training in that scenario you essentially train your brain to ignore the horn, and thus when you get it during a normal approach it becomes all the easier to ignore.
I'm not sure if that issue has been addressed with more recent twins, but it was certainly the case in both the Duchess and Seminole.
I was a witness to a gear up Landing last week. It didn't fall into any of your categories, although I would have to imagine it is rather common. The pilot decided he wasn't safely going to be able to make the runway after an oil pressure failure. He chose the corn field over the muddy soy bean field or public roadway. He didn't deploy his gear on purpose for obvious reasons. I didn't catch the landing, but did get lots of 4k video of the scene and aftermath. My video was featured on the local news after the reporter showed up on scene in expensive loafers. Mud in the corn was ankle deep!
I like your analysis of the C-210. I've heard about this before. I haven't had any problem but, if I did, I would certainly land on the runway, not grass, there's just too much chance of a clod or something causing a problem, like a tip-over or cart-wheeling. If your airport does not have foam capabilities, go to an alternate airport, which you should ALWAYS have planned in case it's necessary.
You've just got to love Pauls videos. Think I'll subscribe.
Really good video. I did not witness it, but I have seen photos of a late-1960s gear-up landing of a Frontier Airlines CV-580 at DEN (mechanical failure compounded by design flaw in alternate gear release system). CFR foamed the runway, but you can imagine what happened when the crew pulled the emergency handles on the Allisons just before planned touchdown. Those thousand-pound Aeroproducts props took a huge bite of air as they went to feather, boosting the airplane down the runway and past the foam. Touchdown was centerline and smooth, slide-out ended on the runway. Props and engines were trashed, of course, but blades stayed attached to hubs. Small amount of smoke from keel scraping, but overexcited firefighters did a lot of damage. There is a picture of the airplane sitting empty after evacuation, no sign of fire. The fire (?) fighters subsequently not only sprayed the entire exterior, they went inside and soaked the airplane interior in foam. Years later, CFR did similar but lesser damage when a Frontier 737 did a gear-up landing at KCPR due to crew error.
Rod Machado seminar said some gear ups happen in pattern practice where the distractions get you. He said he just leaves the gear down in the pattern, and no worries . Sounds good to me.
I was a Huey Crew Chief, I remember often the New River Control Tower stating, "Check gear down and locked." Followed by the Pilot gleefully answering." Roger Skid's Down and Welded".
Good old military training. Beat it into you with redundancy. Not to mention making you do things more than once. . . .
Generally speaking, the CHEAPER an insurance claim is, the "less likely" you are to get your premiums raised OR get dropped. To me it also is common sense that a stopped engine and propeller is less likely to catastrophically fail during a gear up landing , with less chance of flying parts, broken crankcases, oil leakage, potential fires, etc. So the bottom line is that you're not just saving your insurance company money. Because its not like a more expensive gear up landing is ONLY going to cost the insurance company more money. Its going to cost YOU more money.
One thing to note, on the Daytona landing mentioned in this video, he intentionally decided to land long both to reduce any damage to the intersecting runway, and to put it closer to the grass overrun. You make the judgement on whether it was right, but he mentioned it over the radio.
Paul, very nicely put.
I remember when I was working at STN in the late 70's,a Monarch BAC 1-11, (G-AXMG) on crew training landing with the gear up. They had been practicing missed approaches and had pulled the gear warning horn circuit breaker because the horn was a nuisance. Anyway, when they had had enough and decided to land.........You guessed it! The airline I was working for did the recovery as we had air bags and all the right equipment. 'MG stayed in our maintenance hangar for a few days while sheets of 2075 were nailed on the underside of the fuselage (I kid you not!) so that the aircraft could be ferried to Hurn (Bournemouth) for repairs. The 1-11 was a very robust airframe.
Thanks Paul! Well done sir! I did not know hat 54% was pilot error on the gear...Wow!
Older Barons had the gear and flap actuators close enough spatially and nearly identical in visual apprehension that pilots would retract gear instead of flaps on short landings. A least, that's what I've heard, and seen.
I've been wondering about the 'save the engines' and grass or hard questions for a while now. Great video.
Super informative video. And changed my mind on a few things, like keeping engines running, and choosing pavement instead of grass.
Choosing to leave the engines running all the way down to prop contact only ensures replacement of the crankshaft and other vital internal components. If you can, stop prop rotation just prior to contact, and the teardown and repair will be far less costly in the end.
@@Steve-fe4lq Obviously, everything you said there is true, though even stopping the props in no way insures that no engne damage will be incurred anyway, unless the prop stops in a position such that no ground contact will occur (near horizontal). Even if you bang a stopped prop tip into the ground there can still be serious engine damage, especially with a metal prop, I expect, though most assuredly less.
I guess my point was this, if you are a very high time very experienced pilot, your approach to the termination of such an emergency likely would, and possibly should, be different than a pilot doing everything he can (loaded to the brim with 'tasks') just to get it on the runway WITH the props still turning, just by virtue of decreasing pilot loading a bit at that critical juncture.
It also comes down to knowledge. The average driver on the road who is trying to steer clear in a major avoidance situation will be likely to his foot smashed down on the brake pedal (assume we're talking pre ABS, for my point here) and will not understand that this absolutely insures that ANY steering input will not make the slightest difference in what the car does or where it goes. Tires locked up solidly and turned to lock or dead straight ahead steering makes no difference. On the other hand, if you start to spin in a car, and are vectoring reasonable straight down the road, you absolutely WANT to lock the brakes, for that very same reason, your initial velocity vector will then remain relatively constant. The (maybe slightly) below average driver on the street, on a notoriously slippery when wet road, when they run into the back of someone is CONVINCED their brakes failed (no kidding, had it happen, couldn't convince her otherwise...so she learned NOTHING, not making this up, it happened)..this road was possibly the worst wet asphalt surface I have ever driven on, no idea why, other than it was VERY smooth, but it seemed like more than just that.
The analogs of this sort of thing is what an experienced, well trained, knowledgeable pilot knows, and the average plane driver does not. That is one reason I believe there might be reasons to call for continued engine operation all the way to the ground for the average airplane driver. Does that make sense? I think removing stall spin training from standard flight training is an idiotic move...can you imagine facing that for the first time (if you've ever done a stall/spin) at low altitude. Your chances of recovery aren't very high if you KNOW what you are doing, ZERO if you don't. Obviously the NTSB/FAA suggestion is directed to maximum survivability, with zero concern for the aircraft components themselves. Seriously, though, in the long run it really IS only money, compared to possibly serious injury or your life (again, not saying stoppage isn't well within some pilots capabilities without increased personal risk) for the average plane driver. And also, I agree with you a pre-planned switch flick is not a big deal to a calm experienced pilot several seconds before a belly landing.
fantastic commentary, great job, you have a voice for radio
Taught to fly R/ C by a ww2 P-51 pilot, at Antenna Test range NASA Johnson summer 1971. I had previously self taught control line. After soloing in some 4 weeks, I noted my trainer was a small foam molded thing. I did not figure how to set the throttle up so had a high low end idle. My thought was to, since it was a light small cc gas motor about 30% glider. I would climb up not quite out of sight near end of fuel, the timing became like my favorite star trek character Spock, precise. After the engine quit, I would glide around for another 5 or more mintues, doubling the flight time. After about 68 dead stick landings, I have a high level of ease landing a model dead stick. My A&P said if the engine quit on my 1971 Cherokee 140, he could turn around to the runway (180 degree no no), with only 500 feet altitude. I said no 1000. He shook visibly nervous. Scrolling back to flying R/C out of college. A friend handed me his Transmitter after his Cherokee 140 (semi scale) engine got quite. I turned downwind in a second after the ting was in my hand. To my surprise, it made a harder than desired landing on half way through the cross wind. So, with this in mind, I flew my real Cherokee (a few years ago), up so some safe altitude. Pulled the throttle to idle while S and Level (?). In some few seconds, maybe 5, I lost 500 feet. My P-51 veteran, taught me if the engine quits on takeoff, DO NOT TURN BACK TO THE RUNWAY. You will attend your own funeral in a laid back way.
A story that was told to me by my FBO E.T. Crawford (Nacogdoches, TX) in 1965 was about a pilot in the 50's named McQueeny at Lufkin, TX airport that landed gear up in an early model C310. After it was all over with, the people at the airport kept asking him why he didn't put his gear down as they were calling him on the radio to do it. His reply, "could hear you calling for that damn horn going off" .
Paul - Great video w/great advice!! One additional factor is when pilot's is in a hell of a rush. 1977 at driving range in Boca Raton, this Zero zoomed low and fast over the range, and I kidded operator "Betcha he forgets the landing gear". Back at condo Howard yelled "Check out the 11:00 news"....and there the MU-2 sat marooned on Ft. Lauderdale runway!!
Thank you for those very information-rich videos.
Right on the humor too.
I think you save a lot of airmen extra trouble by helping them to make the right choice in a dangerous situation.-
I was taught to put three fingers, one on each indicator, verify each was lit, and say "three in the green".
I had one airplane with loss of electrical system during flight in VFR, pumped down the gear and flew past the control tower for a check.
Was taught to engage every sense as much as practical and speak the check.
Paul B, thanks , for that compalition, of Gear ups .
A friend of mine had a Bonanza and landed gear up.... twice. One of them landing at Oshkosh during the big fly-in. Got it repaired and flew it back to Colorado where he did it again. Both times the gear handle was in the down position and they finally found a faulty limit switch which stops the gear as it cycles to down position..
Great video and narration you just earned another subscriber. Thank you for the great educational video about safety issue many non aviation people worry about.
Great video! I won't have that problem with a Light Sport Aircraft when I take my lessons. Thanks!
I am not a pilot. But I did fly the F-111 simulator on quite a number of occasions because I had a unique ability to teach Pilots to do something with the F-111 it wasn't in the flight manual. At no time oh, did I ever forget is that was actually bringing the simulator in to land. I was also the first person that the colonel who ran the flight simulator at my air base had ever seen that flew a mission with the F-111 simulator and landed it without crashing the first time. He asked me how I was able to do that I told her it was because I was not a pilot. He asked how that made sense? And I informed him that I work on all the flight controls and instrumentation on the actual aircraft. And if you put all those lines and Bubbles and Diles where they belong the plane flies exactly the way it's supposed to.
What would an aviation video be without a german glider pilot ;-)
I've seen quite a few gear up glider landings in my ten years of flying now.
To be fair, in a glider it's not as bad as in an aircraft with engines - you won't damage the engine, and the general structure usually takes it quite well besides some scratches.
A big bunch of them came because of the mixed use of non-retractable- and retractable-gear gliders in my club.
My personal favourite: A very experienced instructor pilot wants to fly our Ls1-f for a change. He gets a cable break on winch launch at 10ft altitude. He puts up the gear as he remembers he has to handle it before landing, forgetting he did never have time to put it up in the first place.
I didn't have time to film the two I watched. But both were "I forgot" scenarios in Barons. Both times, as soon as one of those trucks used for delivering 1000 propane tanks came and lifted the plane, the abashed pilot would flip on the master flip the gear handle down and the gear came down and locked.
Good job. I have wondered for years, why there couldn't be a reminder at say 1000 feet or more, an electronic sensor that just beeps, could be tied to radar.
most pilots cut the engines when they finally commit. once they get the speed low enough and they have practiced a few times. ive heard many in flight recordings of no gear landings. and none of them ever chopped the engines in the pattern, the glide slope, and final.
they cut them when its 1 second from dropping it
That's because they weren't glider pilots. Any self-respecting sailplaner would have shut them off at 3000' over the airport and had those props nicely horizontal. No glider pilot worries about overshoots- one shot is all they ever get anyway.
Really enjoyed your presentation skill could listen to you all day
Paul, great job! I'm wondering if the pilot at 6:30 didn't really have the presence of mind to bump the to get the prop out of the way. It may have only been windmilling and stopping at the compression stroke. I noticed also that he did not have the presence of mind to shut off the master switch. That is what makes me believe that he didn't bump the engine.
I did a gear up 20 years ago in my Aztec.Lost hydraulic fluid & the co2 blow down bottle would not work. Tried for about thirty minutes to get gear to drop . Tower gave me the airport. I elected to land on active runway.
Upon reaching end of runway I shut off engines and safely glided and landed to full stop on runway.
Minor skin damage and props.
Engine crank cases were split to insure no internal damage, required by insurance company.
Had the engines been running,the insurance would have written off the plane. Still flying that Aztec today
What a lovely video. Weel presented and well put together. Keep up the good work.
Airline pilot for thirty years 20000+ hours. Use your checklist!!!!!! We have it memorized but still use it every time. If your smart you’d do the same. That takes most gear up landings away good maintenance gets most of the rest
100%!!!!!!!!!. All it takes is 1 missed item and its all over in this life. Unfortunately, not doing checklists has cost thousands of lives in commercial and private/GA aviation. A lot of today's young instructors are cocky and have a superiority complex. Telling students to memorize everything. The smartest, most successful people take the most notes and go over those notes 3x.
These younger pilots are more computer operators than pilots. Technology is taking over due to their stupidity and lack of skills.
@@08turboSS I don't know if pilots in the past were less stupid and had more skills, but the safety of commercial aviation has improved a lot since their era. So maybe technology and computers aren't so bad after all.
Outstanding presentation .
Excellent video. I have actually witnessed a gear up landing. My colleagues and I were sitting in a hoagie shop eating lunch and saw an A-10, aka Warthog, land gear up at Willow Grove. Actually the pilot touched down and immediately took off again. Sadly, this was years before the advent of cell phones, so no video.
Nice work on the vid! Thank you, AVweb.
My mantra: Tower controlled field, cleared for landing, "CHECK GEAR DOWN" out loud - and DO IT. Uncontrolled field, turning base, runway assured (doesn't mean I'll land, just that I COULD), "CHECK GEAR DOWN" out loud - and DO IT.
A gear-up warning beeper that goes off at about 100-200 ft, would save 50% of these landings. And it can be disabled temporarily for low flight (and soon automatically re-activates) and when it starts beeping again while in low flight, just push the disable button again.
Tell that to this guy: th-cam.com/video/5McECUtM8fw/w-d-xo.html
a lot of aircraft have an annunciator that goes off once the aircraft is put into a landing configuration with gear up, like with the flaps extended. as humans we are just really good at finding ways to screw up.
Once flew with a charter pilot to Cat Island in the Bahamas - the pilot was known for landing without his wheels down - 3 of his planes littered the sides of the runway as proof - I was in the right seat and made sure he did not forget his wheels on that trip.