C-FAWD kit Seastar - forgets gear - video ...

[bizjets101]

Bad enough you forget to lower the gear - but your buddy films it, and posts it

Liveleak Video

[Meatservo]

What a bummer. Cute little plane though. I bet she'd be naughty in a crosswind.

[pelmet]

Sounds like he added power to go around a certain time after touchdown but then changed his mind. Different situation than a normal gear up as the prop/ engine are not damaged. Maybe if you do it right away it might work in reducing damage. I don't know.

Comments or opinions on what you would do if you somehow were in the same situation?

[Donald]

Like this pelmet:

http://youtu.be/-hDgtyIbD-M

[PilotDAR]

'Could be that with the drag of the keel on the runway, full power was not enough to accelerate, and allow the aircraft to be rotated nose up to lift off. If I'm not planning a water landing, or intending to overfly rough ground, I leave the gear down. But I still do my checks, twice, spoken aloud, gear position and where I'm landing.

It's interesting to note that during the slide, the gear position light changed from red to green for wheels down. Perhaps he selected it down during the slide, but he still should not have got a "green" indication.

It's not the worst gear mistake he could have made, but still not good....

[ScottS]

What a bummer. Cute little plane though. I bet she'd be naughty in a crosswind.

That is here in CYSE. Not sure if he takes it out on a typical windy Squamish day; it can be pretty damn gusty from left to right. If that actually happened yesterday it was wicked outflow winds all day.

[J31]

If I'm not planning a water landing, or intending to overfly rough ground, I leave the gear down. But I still do my checks, twice, spoken aloud, gear position and where I'm landing.

Another school of thought is to always retract the landing gear after takeoff. Treat it like a retractable gear airplane....which is what it is. Then every landing is a gear check...up for water down for land.

Most amphibians will not handle anything less than a solid surface with the wheels down. Landing on water with wheels down is almost always a wild event with the major damage and very likely to flip over! In event of an emergency landing (engine failure) it is best to land with the gear retracted unless you know it is hard pack and suitable for wheels down.

[PilotDAR]

Another school of thought is to always retract the landing gear after takeoff. Treat it like a retractable gear airplane....which is what it is

Sometimes I teach that school too, though not for plain old runway circuits, it's generally just not worth the wear and tear on the landing gear system. If there is a training need to cycle the gear, fine, but otherwise no.

Most amphibs do have a cruise speed benefit from wheels up, so certainly do so (mine is the opposite to this rule).

Most amphibians will not handle anything less than a solid surface with the wheels down

Generally yes, though if you think that an off field landing in an amphibious floatplane is going to do some damage, you can choose, maybe damage the extended wheels and protect the floats, but no assurance, or save the retracted gear, with a very likely result of float damage. But it's a tough call, so I agree, there's no right or wrong. Mine is the other than "most", in that the main landing gear is really tough, so unless the off runway landing was going to be like a wheels down landing in water, or their are huge boulders, I'd try the wheels down. But again, tricycle or float amphibians are different.

But, if it's all going wrong, and you really are going to land it into a terrible surface, I really like the flying boat hull. retract the wheels, and slide it on the best you can. It'll have the least chance of flipping over as any type, and the commonly rugged hull will take a pounding, to hopefully protect the occupants. The result is my thinking during cross country flights, of "I could put it there, or there, or there....." which are all places I would not expect to survive forcing in a fixed gear plane, or some retractables.

[iflyforpie]

I love how they are reefing that thing up on the tail to get the gear down. I wonder if the next thing we are going to hear about is inflight breakup?

[AirFrame]

In event of an emergency landing (engine failure) it is best to land with the gear retracted unless you know it is hard pack and suitable for wheels down.

This pretty much applies to retractable non-amphibious aircraft too.

[Rookie50]

In event of an emergency landing (engine failure) it is best to land with the gear retracted unless you know it is hard pack and suitable for wheels down.

This pretty much applies to retractable non-amphibious aircraft too.

Really? I have thought about that....wondered on rough terrain if the gear down would absorb energy....but increases chance of flipping.

[sportingrifle]

Watching the video, the gear up landing seemed relatively uneventful but the performance of the aircraft (or more specifically, the lack of it) in flight is what really got my attention. Pretty scary looking aircraft to encounter either a strong downdraft or experience an engine failure in.

[iflyforpie]

Biplanes and amphibians are two of the least aerodynamically efficient airframes. I'm pretty sure the last purpose-built amphibious biplane other than this one predates WWII.

[AirFrame]

Really? I have thought about that....wondered on rough terrain if the gear down would absorb energy....but increases chance of flipping.

The catch is getting all three gearlegs to hit something on the ground before the fuselage does... On rough terrain, that's a crap shoot. At least you can somewhat control how fast you're descending (usually) and do your best to slow the vertical rate of impact, so absorbing energy takes a back seat to avoiding a tip-over.

[7ECA]

Biplanes and amphibians are two of the least aerodynamically efficient airframes. I'm pretty sure the last purpose-built amphibious biplane other than this one predates WWII.

The last amphibious biplanes, were the Supermarine Walrus, and the Grumman J2F Duck. From what I remember reading, Supermarine tried to "upgrade" the Walrus post-war into a high wing powered by a Griffin engine. It didn't pan out...