witnessed a gear-up tonight

[Flyguy5432H]

while at my CFI groundlab we were on our second break standing outside the hanger at New Symerna Airport (EVB). i was speaking to another student when another student watching aircraft landing said "I don't think his gear is down". turned and looked, sure enough a seneca II bellied it onto the runway, slid about 200ft and stopped on the runway. thankfully both occupants exited the aircraft uninjured and no fire or other damage occured other than from the gear-up landing.

the pilot did the right thing and did not try to go around after realizing his mistake, but kept control of the aircraft and put it down on the runway.

it was a very good lesson to all of us that things like this can happen to anyone. i know that this incident will be a very real reminder to me in the future though.

stay safe out there

 

[Singlecoil]

That has to be the world's worst sound.

 

[megreene]

I was holding short of 27R in SFB when something (Glassair sp?) landed gear up RIGHT in front of us. We were in a 172RG. We called over the radio to try to warn him, but we didn't notice it until it was too late. I turned to my student and suggested that we keep the gear down for this lesson.

 

[Flyguy5432H]

it's just a horrible feeling seeing what is about to happen and not being able to do anything about it.

suprisingly it wasn't loud and stopped very short after hitting the ground. but the sound of scraping metal is a very distinct one that i won't forget

 

[jumppilot]

here is a question for the people of this thread.....

Do you think it is a matter of time till it happens to you? Or do you think people are stupid for allowing that to happen? HONEST ANSWERS PLEASE!!!

Personally, it is a matter of time unless you have MANY steps (read: Habits) to prevent it. Even then you have no guarantee.

 

[KATL8R26L]

gear up

Any one know if it was from a local school or a private owner?

 

[CaptBuzzard]

I have witnessed 3 gear ups. A mooney, 310 and a 210. The 210 was just idiotic. The pilot was doing a lot of touch and goes and apparently while in the flare he heard the gear horn go off. Actually the gear horn was going off for a while. Another bad thing. He had another pilot in the right seat. He said that he thought he was hearing the stall warning horn. If it was going off all the way down short final you would think a go around, or some sort of quick re-evaluation if he thought it was the stall warning. I can't stress it more having taught a lot of complex airplane students the importance of a GUMPS check or something similar. Now the mooney incident was interesting too. The pilot tried to extend the gear after he hit the ground. If he had not done that, all they would have had to do is replace the panels and antennas on the belly. Also check the engine and replace the prop of course. It ended up being a very large repair bill because the gear system was completely destroyed.

I agree the sound of a gear up is very distinct. Not a sound in aviation that is welcome at airports.

 

[SpiderMan]

They say its the smoothest landing you'll ever make

 

[WrightAvia]

hard to find humor in a gear up...

ask not for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for thee...

I never saw a total gear up, but I did see one of our 141 school's seminole nose wheels retract during landing de-rotation. (hey, now there's a word we could argue semantically about for a post or fifteen) It was during a classroom coffee break also...so the whole class saw it. It was not the student or the instructors fault...the landing appeared normal from where we were. The props stopped immediately and there were sparks from the front end.

here is a link to an FAR 121 Gear up that occured just a few years ago...even professionals can make a mistake...

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20010214X00449&ntsbno=CHI01FA084&akey=1

 

[azpilot]

I witnessed 2 people in a Bonaza get killed during a go around with the gear up. The guy realized his gear was up when just a few feet off the ground. He gave it full power and torque rolled the airplane. It landed inverted on the parallel taxiway and exploded. Worst thing I have ever witnessed. People were screaming at him on the radio to check his gear. I guess some people turn down their radio to "focus" on final. Just plain stupid.

3 in the green is such an easy thing to remember. Hell I have a fixed gear plane and will say it just as a reminder for when I switch over to complex aircraft that I rent.

 

[XLR8]

I was sitting in an FBO in MSN (Madison, WI) one day and saw a Queen Air come in with the gear up. I thought to myself, either he's going to do a low approach or he's going to land gear up......either way, we're in for a show! Well, he did a little of both!

As he approached the runway, he must of realized that his gear was still up and started a go around. I didn't think he was going to make it but he did. He went all the way around the pattern and made an uneventful landing! However, when he shut down I asked the guy next to me if Queen Air's are supposed to have Q-tip props?

This guy struck the props, went around the pattern and lived to tell about it! Someone's watching over him!

Fly Safe!

 

[Lonestar]

Hey FlyChicaga

If the CFI candidate didn't pass his checkride...what happened to your CP? Was he not in the same airplane? IMHO, if I were in his shoes, I would have called it a "discontinuation" and taken that kid out for a beer. Something about glass houses with people chunkin' rocks comes to mind...

 

[chperplt]

Autofeather switch to arm. GPWS flap override switch, push to activate... surface de-ice cycle as required. Negative required. Landing gear, will go to down, lights will be as required. When landing is assured, yaw damp off, power levers to idle, propellers full forward

Sounds like the flap up landing checklist in the 1900

 

[BRA]

Has anyone ever put the milk in the cabinent, and put the cereal away in the refrigerator??? Stupid strange things do happen.......so don't laugh. I remember training an MEI....all final....horn is blairing...and he just never even considered why the horn is going off......200 feet or whatver...i ask him what that horn is? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I learned him that day. I had like 350 hours in that seneca. I think...no way i would land gear up. The plane is angled different on final, throttle settings are different, engines sound different, i know the plane too well. Well i say i am not immune to doing it. Anyhow, i never ever came close to a gear up....but i must admit, i always checked the 3 green like 8 times on final, everytime! Sounds funny, but i did!

 

[El Cid Av8or]

Glad to see that everyone got out of this deal in good shape. It could have been much worse.

I'm glad my instructor has instilled in me the concept of performing the Fuel-Undercarriage-Mixture-Prop (or Gas-U-M-P if you prefer) checklist on EVERY leg of the pattern and that sterile cockpit operations are in effect for a reason when around an airport (i.e. in the pattern).

He actually came in on the Baron once with only two of the three in the down position. It's a 1964 model with one green light for all three legs since the electrical motor operates all three at once or none at all. The problem was that the left main was stuck for some reason or another and the motor actually bent the push rod for that leg. Damage was minimal.

Is it just me or is it pretty common that a lot of complex aircraft seem to have a hard time slowing down in the pattern if the gear is not down?

 

[Flyguy5432H]

Any one know if it was from a local school or a private owner?

it was a privately owned aircraft. i'm not sure about the year but it was a very clean seneca II. was not much damage to the airframe but it's going to be a hit to the wallet repairing the engines and props.

 

[tuna]

Do you think it is a matter of time till it happens to you? Or do you think people are stupid for allowing that to happen? HONEST ANSWERS PLEASE!!!

Here is my .02 I think that there are those that have, and those that will. The trick is to remain vigilant enough about it, to prevent it from happening for 80 or 90 years.
I always used G.U.M.P.S. and, when turning final I would say "three green, cleared to land, props to go" everytime I said it, I would look at the gear and props. I would continue to say it until I had acheived all three and then, I would confirm all the way to the pavement.
I still use it now (although I have had to start saying the props part in my head. I get weird looks for saying that in a jet).

 

[WrightAvia]

You'll like this one...

Had to test fly one of our 135 Chieftans once after the hung a new engine on it. Took it up with the lead mechanic.

On the way back to the airport we had only 2 greens. After working the checklist, getting 3 greens and doing a few flybys so the mechanics from the shop could see if the gear looked down, I decided it was time to land. Did the best landing I could and taxied with care to the shop hangar. Come to find out the mechanic(s) plumbed the hydraulic pump on that new engine, the same way the opposing engines hydraulic pump was plumbed...so both pumps were working against each other. Engines on the Navajo counter rotate.

The other part that pissed me off, was that when we took off, the mechanics said it appeared that the sequence of the gear was a bit off during the retraction. You'd think they would have called us to let us know about that.

 

[Singlecoil]

Has anyone ever put the milk in the cabinent, and put the cereal away in the refrigerator???

I stumbled into my apartment, beat after a tough 3 day trip. Too tired to take off my uniform, I dump my bags in the hallway and check to see what the fridge has to offer.
"What are the Grape-Nuts doing in the.....ohhhh $hiiiit."
A full gallon of milk was subsequently found in the cabinet.

 

[Beantown]

On my second flight ever I was sitting at the end of the runway at UZA (Rock Hill, SC) when we see a Cheyenne on final. We had heard no radio calls and there was a DC-3 still on the runway. We soon noticed that the Cheyenne's gear was up. My instructor made 3 radio calls to warn him but he just kept coming. After he plants it in, my instructor makes a call on the CTAF that a plane had geared up and that we were taxing back to the ramp. We then here the crew of the DC-3 (who were still on the runway BTW) come back over the CTAF wondering at what airport the gear up had happened, not realizing that if happened right behind them. Everyone on the Cheyenne was fine but the plane had just had two new engines put on weeks before this happened and both had to be overhauled.(ouch!) The pilot said to me after that "it's kinda of funny this happened b/c I just gotten back from FS last week" and "oh well, it was bound to happen at some point."

It turns out that the pilot (a business man not a professional pilot) lost his license for six months. He was transmitting on the wrong Freq, didn't fly a pattern, landed with another aircraft on the runway to name a few of the reasons listed. About four months later, this same pilot (now with another pilot in the left seat) took off from the same airport right after a student pilot in a 152 and flew UNDER him on the departure leg. That student pilot was so scared that he came around and landed never to fly again.
My point is that some pilots have accidents not because of fate but because of the reckless way they approach flying. -Bean

ps I can say that seeing this on my second flight ever has made me much more aware of the position of my gear when I turn final.