1 ~\ J\ G J\ Z I I I r' - American Bonanza Society

"There are f:hase wha halle ...and f:hose who won ' f: • .. -A new mantra:Landing gear-relatedmishaps (LGRMS)BY THOMAS P TURNER. ABS TECHNICAL SERVICES MANAGERAt the end of a long day as instructor in a new Beech Boron. my studentpilot and I were on a left downwind to Wichita Mid-Continent Airp ort inKansa s when I reached up and reduced throttle on the left engine to simulateon engine failure. As expected. the familiar "beep-beep-beep' of thelanding-gear warning horn sounded as the throttle moved toward idle.The drill was intended to have my student identify and secure the foiledengine and then land with the "dead' engine set at zero thrust. But in thisinstance. there was a catch. It was windy and turbulent.Turning bose and then final. the Boron's groundspeed slowed to a crowl.We were on about a ha lf-mile fina l when I realized that the student hod forgottento lower the landing gear- and I hod forgotten to check. The lowgroundspeed and turbulence resulting from the strong low-level winds conspiredto make airplane performance appear as if the gear was down.It can happen to anyoneAfter years of giving engine-outb'aining I was conditioned to ignore thegear warning horn, so that particularsafeguard did not hold my attention. Itwas fortunate for us that I realized theoversight in time. Since then, I have dramaticallychanged the way I teach landing-gearextension.If your training was similar tomine, your introduction to retractablegearairplanes consisted of three or fourlandings before you were sent off solo.However, the accident records show thata few times around the patch might notbe enough to prepare students to avoidgear-up landings.The "resignation" mindset"There are those who have, andthose who will." I'm sure you have oftenheard that remark when pilots talk aboutlanding retractable-gear airplanes withthe gear up. I think this statement is afine example of a "resignation" mindsetthat goes something like: "Oh, well, agear-up landing sometime is inevitable,and there's nothing we can do to avoidlanding gear-related mishaps."I suggest we learn a new mantra:"There are those who have ... alld thosewho \vOIl'I. "Unfortunately, landing gear-relatedmishaps (LGRMs) in retractable-gearairplanes are common. FAA preliminaryincident reports show that morethan half of aU accidents inVOlving pistonretracts are LGRMs. And they occuroften-as many as six or seven a week!Because they rarely cause inj ury orreportable damage (most LGRMs don'tmeet the requirements for a NationalTransportation Safety Board report orinvestigation), they seldom are reflectedin the statistics used to compute the general-aviationsafety record . This i sdespite the fact that the average cost ofrepairing an airplane involved in anLGRM runs over $60,000. And thoughthey rarely cau se injury, they frequently"total" the airplane because of repaircost and may render a pilot uninsurablefor up to fi ve years!LGRMS COME IN THREE TYPES:The "Oops. I forgot.' or classic gear-uplanding.The gear collapses on the landing roll. butnot because of any known mechanicalproblem . Chances are the squat switchfoiled when the pilot inodvertenlly put thegear switch in the up position. A side loadduring a too-vigorous turn may open thesquat switch momentarily. allowing thegear to retract. My research shows thatsquat switches do nat open until the airplanehas slowed nea rly to a stop on landingbut close early in the takeoff roll. Sothey won't protect against gear-switch activationfor most of a takeoff ar landing. andnot at all in a touch-and-go.The true mechanical fa ilure. in whichthere's nothing thai can be done from thecockpit to completely extend the gear.Historically, LGRMs are aboutevenly split between the first two scenarios,with a comparatively few truemechanical failures.In many cases, strong surfacewinds or other distractions (like doorsopening in flight or electrical fai lures)are contributing factors in the gear-uplanding. Gear collapses often resultwhen a pilot is in a hurry to clean up theairplane during the landing roll, orwhile performing a touch and go, andinadvertently moves the landing-gearhandle instead of the flap switch.How can we avoid thisall-too-common mishap?Simply being aware there is a hazard maymake pilots work harder to ovoid it.Spend more time on the retractable-gearcheckout. Take nme to introduce proper landingijearextension and verification discipline.and proctice it enough that the potternsbecome second nature. Perform the emergency-landing-gearextension procedure(using the checklist) as port of the checkout.Review the POH. Use a prelonding checklist(printed ondlor mnemonic) and reinforceusing it in the cockpit. Make sure you knowhow the gear system works and how tomanually extend the gear if it doesn't.Verifiy that the landing gear is down andalso confirm that the gear goes down andlocks. I like to hold onto the gear-extensionswitch as a reminder until I have the timePage 10958www.b o nanza.orgASS Se p tember 2008