PaulMillner
Line Up and Wait
I had the classic distracted pilot gear-up experience last Sunday, September 19, on runway 28R at Oakland… I was giving an Alameda Aero Club student a Cardinal RG ride to lunch, as he is interested in buying one. We flew OAK – EDU – 1O2 – EDU – OAK. Along the way, he asked what happened if you forgot to lower the gear, and I demonstrated, by retarding the throttle briefly, that the gear horn sounded. I also admonished him that if he *ever* heard the gear horn, or noticed the green lights weren’t lit at landing, he should tell the pilot. I explained there are too many YouTube videos of folks approaching to land, the gear horn plainly audible in the YouTube video, right up until the grinding sounds begin.
As we were handed off over Concord from Travis Approach to NorCal Approach, the NorCal controller cautioned us that an aircraft five miles ahead of us had reported moderate turbulence. That was unexpected and seemed unlikely, but as we begin our descent for Oakland, I throttled way back to keep our airspeed in the descent below maneuvering speed… out of an abundance of caution. The result of this was I was at a very low airspeed, comparable to my normal approach speed AFTER lowering flaps and gear… so I was not prompted by airspeed to lower flaps and gear.
As we neared OAK, my passenger asked why I hadn’t requested the crosswind runway, 33, as it leads directly to my hangar. I explained that I often landed 33, but that my personal minimums were to avoid the shorter, narrower 33 with a passenger on board if the crosswind was greater than 10 knots… and last Sunday, the crosswind was 15 knots. I then advised tower I was planning a long landing on 28R, and that was approved. That occasioned more questions… and I explained that 28R is almost 5,500’ long, and I only needed 1,000’ to land… so I’d fly down the runway to the 2,000’ remaining marker, touchdown, and be off the runway sooner with less taxi time.
All this non-sterile cockpit had its price… as we neared touchdown, a fiberglass flurry from our Hartzell composite prop began as the concrete runway surface started chewing it up. Then there was a grinding, sliding experience of about 300’ and we came to rest just before taxiway P.
I keyed up and told Tower we had landed gearup on 28R, obstructing the runway. The Tower began to ask the souls on board etc. questions when black smoke began emanating from the panel. Master off, both doors open, strong directive language to the passenger to evacuate the cabin…
We were met by four fire engines and two Port of Oakland supervisors in pickup trucks. One of the pickups eventually took my passenger back to his car at the Old T’s parking. After about an hour, a crane appeared, and with a canvas sling on the crankshaft aft of the prop, and another under the belly aft of the rear window, my Cardinal was once again in the air, at least momentarily. I opened the cabin door, turned off the avionics master, turned on the master, and the gear horn began dutifully sounding. I selected gear down, and the gear extended and locked per usual. Signature towed my aircraft back to my hangar, a contractual obligation they have to the Port to clear the runways as necessary, so no charge for that. The crane cost me (or hopefully the insurance company) $1,100 for a Sunday call out, two-hour minimum. We did *not* lift the aircraft by the lifting loop on the engine though I’d removed the upper cowling during the crane wait. The removal was wise, as otherwise the sling might have damaged the cowling. But it's since been explained that the engine loop was designed to lift the weight of the engine, NOT the weight of the entire aircraft… and that the loops had been known to fail when lifting the aircraft was attempted, with the airplane dropping to the runway, causing more damage. An example was given of an Aerostar that fell to earth that way.
The smoke turned out to be the power supply of the Insight Strikefinder lightening detector… since the antenna got ground in half, the power supply got shorted out, and apparently is not overcurrent protected. Insight tells me my Strikefinder is so old, they no longer can source those parts, so I’ll get the newest, latest electronics (along with my new antenna) and a newer, brighter display. That’s not the way I’d envisioned accomplishing an upgrade.
No one was hurt, the airplane has various abrasions that can be repaired, I’ll have a whole new set of antennas for the belly, plus new quick drains for the fuel header tanks. The engine will require an internal inspection, and I’ll need a new prop. Unfortunately, due to a combination of increased GA restoration work associated with COVID, and supply chain disruptions, the prop and engine work could take many months… I’m working on mitigation strategies now… perhaps a rental prop, and a local shop might do the inspection… as long as component rework isn’t required (long queue times!) hopefully I’ll be flying again in a few months.
The FAA interview was gentle. I admitted I’d forgotten the gear. He asked what I might do to mitigate that going forward. I mentioned that I had once installed a louder gear horn, but that a FSDO inspector made me remove it (this FAA guy said, “That guy was an ***hole!”). I now planned to add a red light as well to reinforce the gear horn, and I’d enforce sterile cockpit below 4,000’ AGL. The FSDO inspector asked why I thought I hadn’t heard the gear horn. I told him it could have been distraction, or perhaps the gear horn, despite working before and after the gear-up landing, had strangely become intermittent at the time of landing. The FSDO inspector thought that was funny.
The insurance interview was similarly gentle… and I felt bad for how badly I made my mechanic and my aircraft sheet metal guy feel for me when I contacted them. I’ve got a great team to help me put things back together… now the race is on to see if I can beat Dave Ruegg back into the air!
Paul
As we were handed off over Concord from Travis Approach to NorCal Approach, the NorCal controller cautioned us that an aircraft five miles ahead of us had reported moderate turbulence. That was unexpected and seemed unlikely, but as we begin our descent for Oakland, I throttled way back to keep our airspeed in the descent below maneuvering speed… out of an abundance of caution. The result of this was I was at a very low airspeed, comparable to my normal approach speed AFTER lowering flaps and gear… so I was not prompted by airspeed to lower flaps and gear.
As we neared OAK, my passenger asked why I hadn’t requested the crosswind runway, 33, as it leads directly to my hangar. I explained that I often landed 33, but that my personal minimums were to avoid the shorter, narrower 33 with a passenger on board if the crosswind was greater than 10 knots… and last Sunday, the crosswind was 15 knots. I then advised tower I was planning a long landing on 28R, and that was approved. That occasioned more questions… and I explained that 28R is almost 5,500’ long, and I only needed 1,000’ to land… so I’d fly down the runway to the 2,000’ remaining marker, touchdown, and be off the runway sooner with less taxi time.
All this non-sterile cockpit had its price… as we neared touchdown, a fiberglass flurry from our Hartzell composite prop began as the concrete runway surface started chewing it up. Then there was a grinding, sliding experience of about 300’ and we came to rest just before taxiway P.
I keyed up and told Tower we had landed gearup on 28R, obstructing the runway. The Tower began to ask the souls on board etc. questions when black smoke began emanating from the panel. Master off, both doors open, strong directive language to the passenger to evacuate the cabin…
We were met by four fire engines and two Port of Oakland supervisors in pickup trucks. One of the pickups eventually took my passenger back to his car at the Old T’s parking. After about an hour, a crane appeared, and with a canvas sling on the crankshaft aft of the prop, and another under the belly aft of the rear window, my Cardinal was once again in the air, at least momentarily. I opened the cabin door, turned off the avionics master, turned on the master, and the gear horn began dutifully sounding. I selected gear down, and the gear extended and locked per usual. Signature towed my aircraft back to my hangar, a contractual obligation they have to the Port to clear the runways as necessary, so no charge for that. The crane cost me (or hopefully the insurance company) $1,100 for a Sunday call out, two-hour minimum. We did *not* lift the aircraft by the lifting loop on the engine though I’d removed the upper cowling during the crane wait. The removal was wise, as otherwise the sling might have damaged the cowling. But it's since been explained that the engine loop was designed to lift the weight of the engine, NOT the weight of the entire aircraft… and that the loops had been known to fail when lifting the aircraft was attempted, with the airplane dropping to the runway, causing more damage. An example was given of an Aerostar that fell to earth that way.
The smoke turned out to be the power supply of the Insight Strikefinder lightening detector… since the antenna got ground in half, the power supply got shorted out, and apparently is not overcurrent protected. Insight tells me my Strikefinder is so old, they no longer can source those parts, so I’ll get the newest, latest electronics (along with my new antenna) and a newer, brighter display. That’s not the way I’d envisioned accomplishing an upgrade.
No one was hurt, the airplane has various abrasions that can be repaired, I’ll have a whole new set of antennas for the belly, plus new quick drains for the fuel header tanks. The engine will require an internal inspection, and I’ll need a new prop. Unfortunately, due to a combination of increased GA restoration work associated with COVID, and supply chain disruptions, the prop and engine work could take many months… I’m working on mitigation strategies now… perhaps a rental prop, and a local shop might do the inspection… as long as component rework isn’t required (long queue times!) hopefully I’ll be flying again in a few months.
The FAA interview was gentle. I admitted I’d forgotten the gear. He asked what I might do to mitigate that going forward. I mentioned that I had once installed a louder gear horn, but that a FSDO inspector made me remove it (this FAA guy said, “That guy was an ***hole!”). I now planned to add a red light as well to reinforce the gear horn, and I’d enforce sterile cockpit below 4,000’ AGL. The FSDO inspector asked why I thought I hadn’t heard the gear horn. I told him it could have been distraction, or perhaps the gear horn, despite working before and after the gear-up landing, had strangely become intermittent at the time of landing. The FSDO inspector thought that was funny.
The insurance interview was similarly gentle… and I felt bad for how badly I made my mechanic and my aircraft sheet metal guy feel for me when I contacted them. I’ve got a great team to help me put things back together… now the race is on to see if I can beat Dave Ruegg back into the air!
Paul
