REFLECTOR: Reflector Digest, Vol 102, Issue 82

[John Dibble]

Good advice.  And then there are distractions.  In my 1000 hours flying 
RG, I never forgot to lower my gear.....except once.  I was returning to 
my airport at night. The runway lights and beacon were out, but the 
notam wasn't yet issued, so I had no idea.  Using my standard procedure, 
I set up on a 10 mile final using my gps.  The runway lights seemed 
faint (that's because they were the taxiway lights) and that caused me 
to focus on them.  Yeah, I was flying the plane just fine.  When I was 
about 30' above the "runway", I noticed the white markings of the real 
runway off to my left and realized I was over the taxiway.  I added 
power, and climbed.  As I made the turn to go around, that's when I 
realized my gear was up.  Glad I didn't decide to land on the taxiway!  
Fortunately someone was at the airport and I had him position his truck 
at the beginning of the runway with lights on, so I could get lined up 
with the runway and I landed, no problem.

John

On 9/23/2013 6:02 PM, Patrick Sieders wrote:
> Not to judge
>
> What Scott wrote is certainly true, and is hammered on in my company flying the 'big metal' around. The chain is there to be broken and it will if we will remember to always fly the aircraft.
>
> No matter what breaks, your first instinct should always be " Aviate, Navigate, Communicate". This is certainly something that is not practiced a lot, and you really have to force yourself to take a deep breath sometimes, count to 10 and then work the problem. But never, EVER forget to fly first !
>
> Oh, and forget about all the electronic wizardry.. fly old style, just remember some the the high profile accidents we have had lately... Asiana, Air france, Colgan Air..
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> Something we as a group need to think about and be able to discuss. I hate to bring this up in a sensitive time, but it needs to be communicated.
>
> Hope they willbe back home soon and recovering quickly.
> Patrick Sieders
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