First off, if it's a hydraulic system, don't recycle a bunch of times, it is only going to pump overboard the fluid you need for running the emergency procedure. If it is mechanical, you want as much gear as possible down to absorb the impact, you don't want it to fail on the up-stroke with three unlocked when the down-stroke had two locked.
Regardless of system, I'm not waiting 'til base to extend the gear the first time. I'll know there's a problem before mid-field, sometimes before entering the pattern. Do the go-around/missed, get out to the practice area, get things trimmed up and flying hands off in a slow cruise, then haul out the checklist. Is the passenger's bag under the assist bar? Did the light bulb burn out? Does the mirror show things down (you DO have a mirror, don't you)? Run the checklist, slowly, retrimming as needed. Possibly do a bit of yawing, depending on who's aboard. If it is a 210, I just might empty the contents of my water bottle, milkshake, or, for really savvy owners, the emergency bottle of 5606 into the reservoir, "any fluid will work". If I'm fully loaded on fuel, I just got four or more hours of free flying time, or a four hour increase in pay time.
I'm going to let the airport know to have the equipment rolled, bad luck or a tiny mistake on my part in the landing could have us doing a cartwheel entry into a fireball, so I'd like to them to be there. If nothing else, it'll be a pleasant distraction from their ten hour checkers marathon, especially if the landing is the desired boring event. Besides, you gotta give the news helicopters time to launch and get their live feeds set up so you can be the 'breaking news' on CNN.
anic:
Coming back, the insurance company owns the plane, so I'm (or the owner) is only out the deductible, and most likely he'd appreciate the freshly-overhauled engine and prop result, especially if he's still alive to enjoy them, so I'm leaving power on. If some idiot trying for a close-up, animal, or whatever requires a go-around at the last second, I'll have the power to do so.
I'm not going to bother with tower fly-bys as them telling me "it looks down" isn't going to change my plan one bit. I'm not going to have someone risk their life by flying close-by in a helicopter to take a closer look (mid-air, two fatalities). Nor am I going to make YouTube with some dude standing on a flat bed trying to yank the gear down (FAA violation for 'careless and reckless operation'). I'm going to pass on keeping the autopilot on while I exit the plane to attempt an in-flight repair. I don't know if the grass between the runways is clear of rocks, berms, ditches, and other obstacles, so I'm going for the pavement. I'm not going to bother with foam as the studies have shown it only makes the surface slick and what I want is drag to slow me down.
After the initial failure, I'm going to treat the landing as if the gear could collapse at any second, despite any indications telling me they're down and locked. The warning went off for some reason, assume the worst. We're not going to turn off the runway and impose a side-load that could cause a Bonanza or Piper main to fail. The nosewheels are so fickle, hitting the embedded lights could cause them to go down, especially in Cessnas. I'm probably not going to use the brakes, same reason, I'm in a house of cards and one wrong move causes it to topple, so I'm going to roll-out on the longest runway available within reason then shut down. No reason to close down LAX when VNY has a perfectly suitable runway for a single, if it's a ten-seat bizjet sorry LAX, I'll be closing one. Depending on how busy I am during the landing/crashing sequence, I may initiate the shut-down on initial impact.
When that prop stops and most of the pieces have stopped moving, all of us are getting out, on the runway. When I get out, my certificates get out. When that last passenger gets out, the flight has terminated. If a gust of wind or a line guy then collapses the landing gear, it is a ground incident:
The NTSB doesn't get involved.
It's not a non-motion accident for the insurance companies. . .
that will probably be on the FBO's insurance as the gear failed on the line guy.
The FAA is left with a pilot that had a problem, declared an emergency, and got down safely. :bandit:
The news media goes away disappointed. There's no story in "the pilot did what he was trained to do." :nana2:
I might still get to meet the FAA, the airport manager, the local ARFF guys, possibly even a tower controller or two. I will most likely file a NASA ASRS report, not because I fear a violation, but perhaps my story might cause someone else to think about their plan for such a failure. And if the FAA "had to do something" about the event, well, I have the sanction waiver so I could still keep flying.
BTW, when you bail on a runway, the maintenance shop that hasn't been fixing the problem will get their act together and fix the problem. They know the Feds get real interested the second time you close down a runway due to the same landing gear problem. :banghead: