Almost a gear up

highflight

So I am in the pattern on downwind on a busy day. Traffic called out for me to find on base and final. I put the gear lever down and check for 3 green. All looks well. Get slowed down and start adding flaps while looking for traffic. Turn base, glance down to see 3 green. Base to final, now have full flaps and power back, habit has me glance to see 3 green again. Plane waiting to take off says over frequency “you better get your gear down” I perk up, the gear lever is down, I have the full flaps and low power with no warning lights, I think, is he talking to me. I glance at the gear lights and it looks like 3 green, then I shield the bright sunlight with my hand and realize they are not lit. Tell the tower “I’m going around”. They say OK and contact emergency services. I yank the book out and start troubleshooting to find a tripped circuit breaker. Reset the breaker and all is well, well except for the fire trucks waiting for me. Why on earth would Piper put the gear motor and warning lights on the same circuit breaker? I don’t know if all the Pipers are like this, mine is a 1994 PA-32R-301. If there hadn’t been a plane on the ground that caught this for me I probably would have had a gear up landing.

Jmcmanna

I don’t have an answer to your question, but I am glad for the safe outcome!

I replaced the gear indicator lights in my Arrow with LEDs. They are unmistakable even in direct sunlight. The catch is they don’t dim at night. The flip side of that point is you will never get caught by the trap of them being fully dimmed after a night flight and wondering why you can’t get the gear down.

MikeJJ

Whew! That was REALLY close. Glad you were spared. Track down that pilot and buy him dinner!

I always worry about forgetting the gear as I get older. Fortunately, mine are down and welded 😬. But I call three green anyway.

I remember picking up the keys to an arrow for my commercial flight test years ago. My instructor had a very large tag attached with three words of encouragement:
GEAR, GEAR, GEAR!!!

Scott Sherer

Thanks for sharing this. We'll all be a bit more attentive because of your story. Again, thanks.

Seneca38173

“Great pilots turn bad situations into good outcomes...”. Learned that binge watching Smithsonian Channel. :-)

arrow76r

I also replaced the incandescent bulbs in the gear indicators of my Arrow with LEDs some years back after I took off very late at night from KABQ on my way home and wondered why the rate of climb was anemic. I was just passing the eastern edge of the city (heading up the pass toward the mountains) and, of course, the ground lights were quite bright so I never noticed that the gear lights were still showing green although very dim!! Dealing with the tower, airline traffic, and departure caused a lapse in my check list. But, as Jim M said, the LEDs don't draw enough current to be affected by the resistor that is shunted in series with them when the nav lights are turned on so they are FULL BRIGHT all the time.

griff390

highflight - Only the engineers at Piper can answer your question regarding the gear motor and indicator lights on the same breaker. I'm sure there was a reason. Glad to hear you made it down safely without harm to you or your airplane.

DrPiper

The nose gear indicator light on my 1969 P28R-200 is usually dim and I frequently need to wiggle it to get a light showing. I want to replace with LEDs. Does the green plastic come off the bulb? How?

Seneca38173

LED gear indicator lamps are probably the best ROI of anything you can do for your plane. Just pull the square green housing away from the panel, and the bulb slides out from behind. I'm using these ones: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/marketled.php

As an added bonus, the LED barrels are a few thousandths larger than the standard GE bulb, so your intermittent problem (needing to wiggle them) will probably go away.

Scott Sherer

The green gear light pulls straight out and the light bulb then pulls straight out of the green gear light. Kind of convoluted but it's easy to remove.

arrow76r

Do note my comment above about the fact that the LEDs will NOT dim with the panel light switch so at night they are plenty bright!!

Martineandjim

Thanks for posting your experience. As a fairly new pilot who recently moved up from an Archer to a t-tail Lance this is one of my biggest fears...a gear up landing.

After reading this I immediately ordered the LED bulbs from Aircraft Spruce. I never understood why the landing gear lights are connected to that panel dimmer switch. Seems like a major oversight on someone’s part.

Again, thanks for posting. Glad this was a happy ending. Great lesson for anyone with aretract plane.

Scott Sherer

I've been flying retracts for 40 years and have never had a problem leaving the gear down. First, this device might be worth looking into. I did a product review on this about two years ago. https://sarasotaavionics.com/avionics/audio-advisory-system
Also, your Lance should have a gear warning horn built it to the throttle. However, the microswitches that drive these horns fail alot. Have your mechanic check it out ASAP.
Also, in the days before noise cancelling headsets you could hear the sound difference between gear up and gear down. In today's world you can't hear it. But YOU CAN SEE IT! In my Seneca's and in my current Arrow your airspeed will be much higher while on approach. More specifically, in either my Seneca or Arrow it would not be easy to get to flap extension speed with the gear up. Make a note of it on your airspeed indicator and get used to checking while on final.
Most of us with retracts know what our planes feel like, sound like and handle like with gear up and down. You will develop that, too, over time.
BTW, the mostly likely scenario for a gear up landing is after doing a missed approach or go around. Be especially vigilant during one of these!

arrow76r

My Arrow "whistles" when the gear is down and I have heard (from the ground) other Arrows with the same sound. Not always, but frequently, I will reduce the manifold pressure below 15 inches (gear still up) just to make sure the horn blows. Because the "auto extension" feature has been removed from my Arrow, the gear horn will blow when the flaps are down (2nd "notch") and the gear is up regardless of throttle setting. Most frequently noticed during max performance takeoff simulating short field t.o.

Scott Sherer

Thanks Jim!

asikora1

I will have to take my headset off and listen for the "whistle" with the gear down. But so far, honestly, you cannot miss the horn going off if you reduce power with the gear still up. Loud and clear even with a headset on. So far that has only been practicing slow flight. I have remembered, with checklist, gear down each landing.

arrow76r

I also notice that I can "feel" the nose gear lock into place through the rudder pedals.

masco777

As an add-on to this, does anyone know where to get a replacement green gear light cover, specifically the one labeled "nose gear"?

Scott Sherer

Aviall, or a bone yard like Wentworth, perhaps. I just checked ebay and couldn't find one there.

Harley Kleemann

ALL arrows whistle when the gear is down. I have heard that it's the wind whistling through the spring on the nose gear that causes that.

rammstein1903

I was looking into swapping #330 and #328 bulbs to an LED replacement. I was considering the ones on Aircraft Spruce, but their webpage states that they are not an FAA approved PMA replacement; only experimental. Is there a PMA’d LED replacement out there for these two sizes?

thanks,

dan

Mongoose

I have 3 led gear lights in my 1975 Seneca.

I requested the swap soon after acquiring the Seneca. I do not recall my mechanic mentioning it as an issue finding bulbs.

I am much happier with the LEDs for the 3 gear indicators as I run my navigation lights on always both day and night. The nav lights are LED so use minimal power and not likely to burn out anytime soon so I figure no downside to running them always. Other than I still want to be able to see the 3 green gear light during the daytime hence the led swap for the 3 gear bulbs.

If you have trouble finding bulbs, I can ask my mechanic what he used for my Seneca.

The led gear indicator lights work great in the daytime yet are not blinding at night. I am very happy with them.

rammstein1903

Yeah I’d love to do it, but I am having a hard time finding an approved one.

jacobsja

Just curious, were the filament bulbs approved?

rammstein1903

Not sure if I’m interpreting your question properly, but the plane was type certified with certain equipment yes.