REFLECTOR: N992PC Gear up landing

[Paul Calhoun]

Yesterday afternoon I let down the Velocity community by not letting
down my landing gear. I owe each of you on the Reflector so much through
the great technical and moral support you have given so it grieves me to
detract from our credibility with another "incident".

I was doing touch and goes in my new Velocity and was hugely surprised
on the second one to find myself sinking lower and lower on the runway.
Only after the contact with the tarmac did it dawn on me that the gear
lever was still in the up position. I was amazed at how "soft" the
landing was and how little damage it did to the underside. The MT prop
is considerably shorter and there is a 3 x 4 foot scrape underneath but
the nose gear doors are unscathed. 28R has a new white stripe down the
middle.

We lifted it up and the gear nicely lowered and locked so that it was an
easy matter to tug the plane back to its hanger. No oil or gas leaks.

So how did it happen? I installed an AV - 17 warning system which orally
communicates a number of warnings including gear up danger. The system
was giving a steady stream of false warnings from the first time we flew
so I pulled the CB on the system with the note to track down the problem
at some latter time. In short, there was no functioning stall warning
system in place.
Abeam the end of the runway I got distracted by my low  altitude and did
not go through the GUMP exercise. Nor did I double check for two greens
on final. All totally pilot error due to lack of adhering to routine
flight systems and the arrogance of believing I could do without a stall
warning system precisely at the time I needed it most due to getting
used to a new plane and having low recent hours. I have flown retracts
for 15 years without incidents I told myself.

The emotional pain of the loss is considerable. The humiliation is
tough. After 5 years of steady labor, payoff was within reach. Now some
further delay. Again I deeply apologize to you the community.

I suppose a Catto prop might be in order while I wait for the MT repair.
Also need to get up to speed on what steps need to be taken with
suddenly stopped engines from wooden prop strikes. The FAA manual on
maintenance mandate very extensive (Draconian?) steps.

Paul Calhoun
N992PC IO540 XLRG, 10 hours on the engine.