A friend of mine has a retractable gear aircraft. It has a gear lever that
goes forward and backward to make it go down and up. I got checked out in it a
few years ago and the check pilot tried to trip me up and told me the gear was
still up when I was on final. I blindly believed him and went to move the
lever to the other position. Fortunately, he did not let me. But, I realized
how vulnerable the pilot is in that aircraft.
I suggested installing a microswitch and light on the dash - which he did last
year. Except it was a Radio Shack led (not very bright). A few months ago, he
took another pilot up for a flight, was telling him of the virtues of his
aircraft and saw what he thought was a lit led. Except it was lit by the sun
hitting the side of it. As he was on final approach, the passenger kept
telling him the gear was up, but the pilot was focused on landing and ignored
that, landing gear up in front of a number of friends. Fortunately, about the
only damage was the wooden prop. This was at least the third time the aircraft
has been landed wheels up, all three times with two otherwise competent pilots
aboard. In one case, two high time instructors did it.
I mention this because it is the same thing that contest operators do. So,
having things bullet proof automatic to override gross mental errors is good.
Such things as grid trip and swr shutdown can save your amplifier.
As for the aircraft, I got one of the high brightness leds to replace the puny
one and there is no question now when the gear is down - or at least when the
light is on.
73, Colin K7FM
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