UND's Problem with "Gear Down Locked and Set"

[JaceTheAce]

Stop making people call it out in the Warrior!

When UND requires students to call out "Gear down locked and set flaps 40" on final while learning to fly in the Piper Warrior, overtime they get used to calling that phrase out while NOT going through the physical process of lowering an actual landing gear. I have always thought of this to be a potential problem when transitioning into the Arrow or Seminole where there's nolonger a fixed landing gear.

When the student arrives into the Arrow or Seminole, they will have established a habit of calling out the Final Landing check phrase while not lowering the actual gear. I believe that this is what helps contribute to forgetting to lower the gear. If there are some airplanes that you call out the phrase and don't lower the actual gear, your brain can subliminally elect to not "double-check" and thus potentially cause another gear-up accident when flying an airplane with a lowering landing gear.

Don'tchya think?!

The solution is: Add a fake landing gear lowering switch like UND used to have in the old Piper Cadets from the 1990's. If anyone has rented Cadet N108ND at GFK Flight Support, you will notice a non-functioning landing gear switch. When I'm flying that plane, I always use it so I get into the habit of moving it down - not just calling out the final landing check and not doing anything with it. Requiring students to lower a fake landing gear switch will make the process an automatic conditioned reflex.

Just recall "Pavlov's Dog"...the psychologist who experimented with different brain stimuli to get a dog to do certain things. This is based on the same issue.

[roundout]

i disagree, quite strongly.

if you're in the habit of saying "gear down and locked, flaps 40," even if there's no fake gear handle, you're in the habit of thinking about the gear. do you usually make call-outs about the status or setting of some piece of equipment without looking at it first? by training people to think about this from day one, you'll get people who don't neglect to put down the gear in a complex airplane.

granted, this only works IF someone actually makes the call. i'm willing to bet that of the two gear-up incidents that UND has had in the past 3 years (one arrow at hillsboro plus the seminole last week), none of the 3 pilots said "gear down and locked, flaps 40" right before impact. apparently the PF is not prepared to exercise the privileges of a commercial certificate. bad news for the instructor, as well. complacency can be a killer. for all the fallout that may well occur, these two were lucky to escape physically unharmed.

[Screaming_Emu]

I dunno, I see both sides to the issue but I'm not entirely sure which one I side with. I see why UND makes you say 'gear down and locked" in the warrior, but I also see what Jace is talking how there could be some negative transfer in that you will get in the habit of simply saying "gear down and locked" instead of actualy double checking it.

Again, I definately see both sides, not sure which one to side with. I started my training out in Crookston where they had nothing but 2 cadets and an arrow. One of the cadets had the fake gear lever and the other didn't. I do know that the few times I flew the one with it, I usually forgot until I brought the throttle to idle. Granted I was just starting out as a pilot and only flew that plane once or twice.

About not being able to function as a commercial pilot because of a gear up landing, again, I see your point, but I also have to ask you Grant, have you never fallen victim to complacency at any time? I definately dont want to criticize these guys, cause it really could happen to anyone. I'm a big believer in Murpheys law, so if I start talking bad about what happened, I'm gonna be the next one ;-)

By the way grant, intramural hockey starts up in less than a month, get your ass back to UND, we need you :-P

[roundout]

complacency? everyone's fallen victim to it at some time or another. if they deny it, they're lying. i have. no doubt about it. complacency to the extent to put the gear down? it's happened countless times, obviously. i do my best to make sure it doesn't happen to me.

joey - i had to drop out of my winter pay league here to get my $400 back to pay for CFI insurance. going hockey-less is not going to be easy for me. our cap said they needed me, too....why are you guys interested in a guy with good wheels but not much else?

[Screaming_Emu]

[ QUOTE ]

why are you guys interested in a guy with good wheels but not much else?

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha, if you saw us last year, you'd know why. Just ask Kevin.

We had a rather interesting season last year. All the games (or shall i say both) before the christmas break we got absolutely spanked. After christmas things went ok and we had a little bit of luck on our side too. We won one game because the other team wasn't alll that great, then won one 1-0 because I played about the best game I have since I came to UND (doesn't say much), and then we won another one because the other team had an illegal player :-).

So with that we made the playoffs. Won the first round of the playoffs because the flight instructor team's goalie didn't show up so they put in a guy who couldn't even skate. Then we played against the best team in the league and got absolutely schooled. Was a lot of fun though. This year they made it $300 a team, so we need as many people as we can to make it less expensive. Take it easy man, hope you can get back on the ice soon.

With that being said, any JCers that go to UND that want to play intramural hockey, talk to me. Doesn't matter your skill level, and even if you've never played before. You need basic equipment that I'm sure you can get for fairly cheap at play it again. Its a lot of fun.