Gear down and locked

Old themes are sometimes worth revisiting. This time it’s lowering the gear in time to have it fully locked in the down position. I don’t think the reported gear “collapses”on the FAA accident site are due to mechanical problems very often. Rather, it most likely is a result of dropping the gear as an afterthought at the last minute

It takes some time to lower the gear and have the locks engage. Different planes take different times. Some lower in less than 5 seconds, others take longer. My old Cessna 172RG went through some gyrations to extend. The old Mooneys’ gear was lowered by the pilot moving a large chrome handle from the horizontal to the vertical. It took an effort, and the plane sometimes did a bit of a dip, but you knew the gear were down. The way you can tell if the gear is down and locked is when you get one or three green lights. There is a micro type switch at the wheels that closes when the gear is down in the locked position. I must add that I am not an A&E mechanic and that the specifics of gear operation and the light indications should be verified for each airplane. Yesterday I spoke with a licensed A&E who suggested that a persistence of a red transit light should be a warning that all is not secure. Not all planes have a red transit light however. Therefore if the green light or lights don’t come on, beware. Options are: recycle the gear. If still not right, try the mechanical crank down method. Some pilots will try to fly over the runway and have an observer give their impression. Just be prepared for a rough landing without the greens being lit. One last bit. Usually the bulbs can be tested by pressing on the light covers. This should be done before deciding that one or all the wheels are not down and locked if one of the lights is not on.

So watching for the lights is important. The next time you are on the web go the FAA site and check out the number of “gear ups” that are reported every weekend on the Monday log. On the 29March report, 7 out of 25 accidents involved the gear.

In my article: Three In The Green Or Else!, 10April2009, I discuss various ways to try and insure that the pilot lowers the gear before landing. They worked for me for years and I can recommend them. Try them out. Good habits can save one from a bunch of headaches and bills. Happy and safe landings.

Do all the latest digital gadgets make one a better, safer pilot?

The other day while sitting at a traffic light, I watched a young driver texting furiously in between glancing up at the traffic signal. Amazingly the driver did not miss the change from red to green by many milliseconds but……it made me wonder how many pilots were doing the same thing while at the controls. Talking on the cell phone, texting, getting the latest stock results or some such other nonsense. How many milliseconds did I have to avoid that bogey (errant plane) streaking across my path? Just enough, because I wasn’t doing any of the above. It doesn’t take much distraction to miss a frequency from center, or an urgent call from approach to turn immediately or descend or climb. You get the point, one must pay attention.

Yes, your full undivided attention is required to safely navigate the current skies. Tempting as it may be to watch a video, do a sudoku or read a magazine, your eyes need to be on your primary flight data: altitude, heading, attitude and airspeed at least once a minute. The rest of the time you should be looking out the windshield for traffic or just enjoying the scenery. Even while flying on autopilot, regular checks of the above must be made. Autopilots do fail, often at the worst times.

Some time ago at a local air show at Rock Hill Airport (UZA), I was looking at the cockpit setup of a new C-172. Some of the new fancy models cost just under $300,000 and still only go 120 knots. I couldn’t get over the Glass Displays. Two large screens that could be filled with all kinds of data such as: GPS data, satellite radar, nav data and who knows what else. All the above in addition to the basics listed above. What struck me between the eyes was the paucity of “raw data” or basic instruments. Directly under the two mega- screens are three normal sized dials. The airspeed indicator, artificial horizon and altimeter. Where is a back-up vor/ils gage? What happens when something goes haywire with those two big screens? Are you prepared to go back to the basic three gages above?

Well those are some of the questions I ask when I read about pilots flying into the ground while executing an ILS approach. Do you have the latest correct approach plates out in front of you clipped to the yoke? Does anyone still know what an NDB is? OK I’ve been around too long. Maybe, but I warrant it is easier to go to a fancy big screen with follow the arrows type game plan if you once thoroughly understood the old fashioned way. So what I’m saying is: when you have the ability to navigate the airways and land at minimums on the old gages maybe then you can transition to the big screens.

To summarize. Flying is an activity that requires a lot from participants sometimes, with periods of tedium at others. But, it should never be dull or boring. If it becomes so, rather than turn on your digital toys, land the plane and park it until you are ready to seriously fly. And please don’t ever forget the basics.