Cardinal Gear up landing
- Thread starter JusticeAK
- Start date
R
Roger, Roger
Guest
Then it wasn't me, but it was my school's airplane and I know who was instructing in it.
cmill
Cold Ass Honky
just curious, i always hate hearing a fellow pilot in a bad situation over the radio. glad things turned out ok.
OregonTrail
Well-Known Member
there was nothing wrong with the engine, you wouldnt have to mess with the gear on short final, if the pump didnt work i wouldnt worry about the gear, but i would do a power off landing to minimize chances of shrapnel flying through the wind screen. There is no reason to have the engine running, i think a touch and go is out of the question. Strikin the prop doesnt only ruin the prop and engine, it can ruin the air frame and instruments from an abruct stop. i rather grind some skid plates and maybe a little bit of flaps.
floridaCFII
Well-Known Member
There's no reason to eliminate options in an emergency situation. Coming in with the engine shut off eliminates the option of a go-around. Remember... once you know you're crashing an airplane, the insurance company owns it... do whatever it takes to ensure you walk away from it unharmed.
IMO, you're overcomplicating things by shutting down engines, bumping props with the starter, etc on short final when you already have one emergency to deal with. It just seems to increase the chances of making the situation worse.
OregonTrail
Well-Known Member
i don't know about you but i can pull the power on own wind and hit the runway every time, even if you touchdown 2000 feet down the runway on a 4k foot runway it will stop. If you run of the road and get your car high centered are you going to blow your engine trying to get your car out? dont think so.
The Gardener
Terrafirma Phobic
I've debated this same thing a lot, and I cut the mixture in a gear failure situation to stop the engine but not to save the engine. I was doing it to eliminate any chance of fire as well as stop the thrust on the props. I could care less about saving an engine. There is no gain in it for me, just additional risk. That however is one of the bonuses of flying "not my plane!"
Joe Gremlin
Well-Known Member
Sound and reasonable attitude for CFI such as yourself to have considering that you're tasked with advising low time aviators on a regular basis. I would advise any low time pilot to adopt the same attitude. There is absolutely no reason to try to be a hero at the expense of risking your own well being regardless of whether the plane is insured or not.
But if I were in the plane? It'd probably be a different story. It wouldn't add any measurable amount of distraction/mental bandwidth to my workload so I have no problem with opting to kill the engine and jog the prop if all other factors are conducive. Of course knowing how rough things are these days, I'd also probably consider thwarting the FCC and giving the plane's owner a call on the cell to ask which he'd prefer. Sometimes the owner would rather end up with a nice insurance check/fresh engine & prop vs saving the engine and getting the plane back online quicker.
That being said, the one thing I would never consider attempting is the low pass/fast car/reach up and pull the gear down trick that shows up on youtube every now and then. The risk/reward is way too high to ever justify those kinds of shenanigans.
But lets really get a good old fashion flame war started. Pavement or grass for a gear up?
floridaCFII
Well-Known Member
Pavement... it's pretty much assured to be a flat surface. Grass can have hills, holes, and "ski jumps" up across paved taxiways and runways. Better just set it down where you know you can skid to a stop and probably do less damage. There are a number of NTSB reports I've seen where a grass landing (beside the runway, etc... not talking a grass runway) turned what would have been a non-reportable incident into an accident.