REFLECTOR: Gear warning horn

[Jim Sower]

<...The only thing that will keep you from doing a non-intentional gear 
ups following your checklist(s) every time ...>

Now that has a nice ring to it, but in real life it CANNOT happen.  In 
my life from tactical jets to GA to whatever, I've NEVER met ANYONE who 
was able to actually DO that, so it seems to me a pretty irrelevant 
statement.  The most checklisted cockpits in the WORLD are airliners, 
and they have two or three guys to remind each other about them, and 
they miss stuff with alarming regularity.  Checklists are great until 
you get into a distracting situation.  We all have different tolerances 
to distraction, but NOBODY is immune.  Sooner or later (and over and 
over again) we all drop stuff out that's on the checklist.  That's why 
they call us human beings.  But we have the capacity to design automatic 
horns and whistles and bells and sweet voices.  These things DON'T get 
distracted.  Sometimes they don't work just right (design defects, 
hardware failures, etc.), but on a BAD day, a gear warning horn or light 
is more reliable than I am on a GOOD day.

Anyone thinks he can stick to the checklist ALL the time hasn't been 
flying long, and hasn't had anything much untoward happen to him.  It's 
really REALLY well documented that AI is more reliable in these matters 
than any of us (much less all of us).

Give me the horn every time.



Douglas Holub wrote:

>I'll bet there would be 200 without the warning horn, though!
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Scott Derrick" <scott at tnstaafl.net>
>To: "Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list" <reflector at tvbf.org>
>Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 9:42 PM
>Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Gear warning horn
>
>
>  
>
>>The only thing that will keep you from doing a non-intentional gear up is
>>following your checklist(s) every time.
>>
>>About a hundred pilots land gear up every year and 99% of them with the
>>damn gear up horn blaring away!
>>
>>Scott
>>
>>At 06:17 AM 9/9/2004, you wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>>Scott Derrick wrote...
>>>>you gonna have the throttle near closed in 99% of the
>>>>cases when on final.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>Scott,
>>>
>>>It's that last 1% of the time that will get you.  That's why I
>>>      
>>>
>considering
>  
>
>>>installing a ground proximity sensor with a voice warning.  It's supposed
>>>      
>>>
>to
>  
>
>>>trigger at about 200 ft AGL.  Here's a link...
>>>http://www.flyingsafer.com/2037.htm
>>>
>>>Darrell Kufalk
>>>
>>>      
>>>