This is very much related to the sticky post on the two CFI's that totalled an airplane experimenting.
In that discussion, I read many times that gear position should not be used to decide your continue/abort decision. In a way, I totally agree, and in a way I TOTALLY disagree.
Let's start with a simple scenario. Let's say you're 500' AGL in a high performance twin (maybe a Baron 58 lightly loaded) with the gear down on climbout (no, I don't think there's hardly any reason this should happen in real life). At this point you have an engine failure. That scenario is an excellent reason not to base your continue/abort decision on gear position.
Look at that seemingly obvious scenario a little closer though. Why, oh WHY did that pilot have his gear down at 500' AGL in a high performance twin?!!! This lethargic pilot has just spent 30 seconds of much reduced climb performance in a critical phase of flight.
At this point any proficient multi pilot would put the gear up, feather the engine, and come back for a landing in a safe deliberate manner (**see note at end). Had he put his gear up earlier he may be at 600' AGL right now. He would also have one less step in cleaning the airplane up. This would have cut his workload (all he has to do is identify, verify and feather instead of putting the gear up before those steps) and added to his safety margin in terms of altitude.
What should this pilot have done differently? Obviously he should have put his gear up much earlier. How much earlier? 200' AGL? 100' AGL? 50? As the wheels are leaving the pavement? The answer in my opinion is very simple.
If you are at a point where an engine failure would cause you to abort the takeoff, the gear should still be down (there are possible exceptions, this is a generalization). If you are at a point where an engine failure would not cause you to abort, your gear should already be up.
The point is, to avoid wasting potential climb performance, you should NOT have the gear down if you are past the point where you would abort the takeoff in the event of an engine failure.
When you reach the point where you would no longer abort, your hand should be moving from the throttles to the gear handle. If you follow this technique, it is very easy to decide in flight whether you're going to abort or not with an engine failure.
True, in reality you are not evaluating the abort/continue decision point based on gear position. In reality, as a good pilot expecting the worst on every takeoff, you decided before you got in the plane when you would abort and when you would decide to continue. Then when you got in the plane and actually took off, all you had to do was put the gear up at that point.
Putting the gear up isn't how you determined your abort/continue decision point. However, in addition to it being a physical switch in the cockpit, it should be like a mental switch as well. You are mentally switching from the abort mindset to the "identify, verify, feather" mindset. In the process of switching mindsets you've already put the gear up so that shouldn't even be an engine failure concern anymore.
The real concern is how to determine when you're going to switch from the abort mindset to the "identify, verify, feather" mindset. This will depend on the aircraft you'll be in, the runway you're using, the surrounding terrain, and the conditions at the time of departure. Making this decision requires good judgement and even with good judgement, it is not going to be a natural gift. Every MEI should give their students numerous scenarious to work through in order to facilitate the thought process which is far more important than any specific "rule".
To summarize, I believe gear position MUST NOT be used to determine whether you will continue or abort. However, gear retraction can and SHOULD be used as a way to transition between an abort and continue phase, both in terms of aircraft configuration and mental preperation. The point at which you change mindsets should be determined before you ever get in the aircraft and in some lower performance twins it will be different for every takeoff.
**There are some situations in some airplanes at some distances from the approach end of a suitable runway or landing site in some weather, etc etc where you might not feather and put the gear up, but simply land because you have the performance to come around and do so without putting anything at risk.
-- This is obviously not the rule that solves every situation. Generally speaking it can be used with satisfactory results. There may however be some scenarios where it may be wise to put the gear up and even if you have an engine failure afterwards, abort the takeoff (perhaps landing in water gear up). MEI's teach your students that a decision point is critical...hesitation is death in this scenario, that much is assured. --
In that discussion, I read many times that gear position should not be used to decide your continue/abort decision. In a way, I totally agree, and in a way I TOTALLY disagree.
Let's start with a simple scenario. Let's say you're 500' AGL in a high performance twin (maybe a Baron 58 lightly loaded) with the gear down on climbout (no, I don't think there's hardly any reason this should happen in real life). At this point you have an engine failure. That scenario is an excellent reason not to base your continue/abort decision on gear position.
Look at that seemingly obvious scenario a little closer though. Why, oh WHY did that pilot have his gear down at 500' AGL in a high performance twin?!!! This lethargic pilot has just spent 30 seconds of much reduced climb performance in a critical phase of flight.
At this point any proficient multi pilot would put the gear up, feather the engine, and come back for a landing in a safe deliberate manner (**see note at end). Had he put his gear up earlier he may be at 600' AGL right now. He would also have one less step in cleaning the airplane up. This would have cut his workload (all he has to do is identify, verify and feather instead of putting the gear up before those steps) and added to his safety margin in terms of altitude.
What should this pilot have done differently? Obviously he should have put his gear up much earlier. How much earlier? 200' AGL? 100' AGL? 50? As the wheels are leaving the pavement? The answer in my opinion is very simple.
If you are at a point where an engine failure would cause you to abort the takeoff, the gear should still be down (there are possible exceptions, this is a generalization). If you are at a point where an engine failure would not cause you to abort, your gear should already be up.
The point is, to avoid wasting potential climb performance, you should NOT have the gear down if you are past the point where you would abort the takeoff in the event of an engine failure.
When you reach the point where you would no longer abort, your hand should be moving from the throttles to the gear handle. If you follow this technique, it is very easy to decide in flight whether you're going to abort or not with an engine failure.
True, in reality you are not evaluating the abort/continue decision point based on gear position. In reality, as a good pilot expecting the worst on every takeoff, you decided before you got in the plane when you would abort and when you would decide to continue. Then when you got in the plane and actually took off, all you had to do was put the gear up at that point.
Putting the gear up isn't how you determined your abort/continue decision point. However, in addition to it being a physical switch in the cockpit, it should be like a mental switch as well. You are mentally switching from the abort mindset to the "identify, verify, feather" mindset. In the process of switching mindsets you've already put the gear up so that shouldn't even be an engine failure concern anymore.
The real concern is how to determine when you're going to switch from the abort mindset to the "identify, verify, feather" mindset. This will depend on the aircraft you'll be in, the runway you're using, the surrounding terrain, and the conditions at the time of departure. Making this decision requires good judgement and even with good judgement, it is not going to be a natural gift. Every MEI should give their students numerous scenarious to work through in order to facilitate the thought process which is far more important than any specific "rule".
To summarize, I believe gear position MUST NOT be used to determine whether you will continue or abort. However, gear retraction can and SHOULD be used as a way to transition between an abort and continue phase, both in terms of aircraft configuration and mental preperation. The point at which you change mindsets should be determined before you ever get in the aircraft and in some lower performance twins it will be different for every takeoff.
**There are some situations in some airplanes at some distances from the approach end of a suitable runway or landing site in some weather, etc etc where you might not feather and put the gear up, but simply land because you have the performance to come around and do so without putting anything at risk.
-- This is obviously not the rule that solves every situation. Generally speaking it can be used with satisfactory results. There may however be some scenarios where it may be wise to put the gear up and even if you have an engine failure afterwards, abort the takeoff (perhaps landing in water gear up). MEI's teach your students that a decision point is critical...hesitation is death in this scenario, that much is assured. --
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