You Know you have landed gear up, when it takes full power to taxi back to the hanger.

You know when you have landed “GEAR UP” because it takes full power to taxi back to the ramp. It’s also said, “There are two kinds of pilots, those that have landed gear up and those are going to.”

Those are jokes, but it happens all too often. I have been involved in recovering a number of airplanes that had gear up incidents. I’m going to tell you about two of them.

The first was in a Cessna 177RG. The pilot/owner did not like the gear warning horn. There is a micro switch on the throttle of that airplane and if the throttle is retarded when the gear is up, the horn will sound. The owner wanted me to change the adjustment so that it wouldn’t do that. I refused because that was the required setting. Afterward, he took it upon himself to disconnect the horn. The very next time he flew it; he landed gear up. This was an expensive repair. The prop was destroyed. The engine had to be torn down and inspected due to the prop strike and the belly skins of the airframe had to be replaced.  

The gear warning horn is there for a reason. It might be irritating at times but it will keep you from making a huge mistake.

The next story is about two men flying together and shooting touch and goes in a Piper Comanche. I don’t remember if both were pilots or if it was the pilot and a passenger. It was a long time ago. Regardless, I saw a video of this very thing the other day. You can find it on the internet. 

The pilot was letting the co-pilot handle some of the cockpit duties. The pilot landed and then told his friend, “Flaps Up” The friend responded by “Gear UP”. The landing gear folded, and the plane went down on it’s belly. Luckily the engine was at idle. Still, the prop was curled. The engine suffered a prop strike, so it was torn down and the belly skins needed to be replaced.

Luckily, no injuries were reported, although there were serious blows to both the pilots’ egos.