|
Keep em down
My 1965 has somewhat unclear instructions on this point in the POH or rather "Owners Manual". However when you put all the pieces together, I think the better approach is to leave the gear down until well clear of obstacles or establish a SOP (which I have done) of 1000' AGL before gear movement. Some things to consider:
1) I only have a pump on the front engine, so if I lost the front engine or the pump on the front engine on take-off, gear transit will be slow and manual, not a good time to be trying to pump a handle.
2) The transit time on a skymaster gear overall is pretty long -- there is lots happening down there -- something like 12 to 15 seconds. Again, if you lose climb ability or begin to descend at this moment, these seconds could be very critical and seem very long.
3) The airplane will still climb (not swiftly but still upward motion) with the gear fully extended and operating on one engine.
4) Not always, but generally, things have a greater chance of going wrong when you change something. Said another way, if you are climbing which is the most important thing to have happen right after take-off, don't change anything until you gain a comforting altitude.
When I consider all of the above, my SOP is simply to do nothing but climb (ie no configuration changes) until I reach 1000' AGL. Then I can move flaps (which carries some risk in the skymaster...see other threads re risk of flap cable breakage) and move the gear, and adjust throttles and pitch for cruise climb. In the event something does go wrong before 1000' is reached, then the decision making can proceed from there depending on what has happened.
It drives most twin pilots nuts to see the gear handle not get touched for so long after take-off (in fact many re-current instructors or safety pilots I fly with from time to time often query me on what I am doing, or not doing!!) but I remain convinced the above approach, in a skymaster anyway, is the right one.
|