337 Gear Up Landing

[Dale Campbell]

Here is a good example of what to do if gear will not come down. Does anyone know who it was. Dale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbZlgHofgrI

[Ernie Martin]

Great video. One question: better on the grass or the runway? I had always been told that it's safer and there would be less damage to the aircraft on the runway. This pilot thought differently, and the results suggest that it might have been the right choice.

Ernie

[Dale Campbell]

My personal though is, if you know the grass area is smooth with no ruts with good approach like a known smooth grass strip and maybe wet grass there would less damage to belly. There is another plane a 182Rg on that same site that did the gear up landing. the 182RG slide further and slide off runway to the left and all you could hear was metal being ground off. You could also hear the warning horn sounding in the background, but the pilot and co-pilot where to busy talking to notice gear horn sounding. We use to land a PA-11 Cub with floats, on morning wet grass, when it came winter, to remove floats. Dale

[rick bell]

landing on pavement actually creates very little damage. in my case a slight belly damage maybe 12 inch square(just the skin not any stringers) right at the back where is large clam doors were (deleted it with a mod).so it just eats the strut doors, which acts like skis. the big problem IS - WHAT POSITION IS THE BACK PROP IN? if someone isn't talking to you (ie tower) as in my case the tower did'nt ansewer and after waisting 30sec time to open the door, shut off the gas and master. oh it stops just as fast as that video of the landing on the grass.

[Paul462]

I like Lynn Justice's approach (he attended the OK City SOAPA Fly-In from Guatemala a few years ago).

His 337 had a cargo pod, so when his gear wouldn't come down to land at La Aurora (Guatemala City) he feathered the front prop and nudged it horizontal with the starter, landed flat (on the cargo pod) so as not to strike the still-running rear prop, and slid to a stop on the cargo pod on the concrete runway.

The bottom of the cargo pod was scraped up some (it was still useable, though), so he jacked up the plane, got the gear extended, and taxiid off with no damage. :-)

[hharney]

It's at Coventry Airport, maybe in UK because that is where the posting is from. By the looks of the firetrucks and background it looks to be across the pond somewhere. Dad had the main gear collapse once in the first Skymaster we had, N5464S (look that one up on the FAA site, nasty ending) and the nose wheel stayed locked but the mains folded back. Actually not a lot of damage except for the prop on the rear. Of course he didn't know anything was wrong so it was all a surprise. No engine shutdown or fuel off or door open.

[Dave Underwood]

The aircraft in question was my FT337GP being flown by an airline Captain on a post annual test flight while I was away on business. This actually happened almost 5 or 6 years ago now.

So what happened you might ask? On this annual all the hoses were replaced and the suspicion was that the right main gear down lock hose position allowed the down lock to partially pressurise. The main gear actuator was begining to fail so did not have enough pressure to over come the down lock pressure and thus the gear would not come down & lock.

There were a number of attempts per the POH to rectify the problem, but in the circumstances, nothing was ever going to work with that combination.

The pilot did a very nice job of landing the airplane with minimal damage. There might have been even less if he had landed on the runway and not the grass.

The FAA was informed and they were helpful, but only partially interested and there was no follow-up action.

Learning out comes? There are quite a number and I list them in not particular order.

1) When doing the gear test as part of your annual, simulate high air loads to ensure the actuator has enough to push you out of the way when the gear is going down. After the accident when the gear was swung, it was only when I suggested we simulate air loads that we realised the actuator was failing.

2) Make sure the main gear down lock stays out of the way until the gear pushes it, which then allows it to pressurise. If it pressurises too early and is partially down, you may have trouble. In my case, it may have been like that for years which ultimately caused the actuator failure.

3) Don't land on the grass unless it is really smooth. The majority of damage to the belly skin panels was caused by the rough grass landing. The total damage was minimal with the gear doors, exhaust stack and two belly skins requiring replacement along with various antennas as well. My A&P figures some of the damage was caused when they put the plane on a plate and dragged the plate to a place where the plane could be lifted and gear could be extended.

4) Always feather the front and get the prop horizontal.

5) When landing assured pull the rear and stop it as well. We had a prop strike on landing on the rear engine. The POH suggests an abrupt flair which puts the rear prop in a vulnerable position.

6) Don't buy the belly skin from Cessna as it is not drilled and it is very expensive. Use sheet material of the correct thickness and you will save tonnes of money.

7) Search the scrap yards for gear doors. They are now getting quite scarce as an FYI.

8) There will be a number of rivets positions on the belly skins where you will have to used bolts in place of because there is no way a rivet could ever be set.

9) If you can find someone who does skin repairs as a specialty, get them to do the work as most A&P's just don't do enough to be expert enough.

10) Fully check the geometry and be prepared to replace the wing bolts and the boom to wing fasteners.

11) On pressurised airframes, be prepared for some extra work to re-seal the cabin. Mine is still not quite right, although I can get to a little over 18 k now. Use the down time to get that Garmin stack or similar you have always wanted installed.

12) Don't be in the plane yourself when this sort of thing happens. Be 4,000 miles away so when you call the insurance company you can truly say it was nothing to do with me.

Epilog: this was not a big deal. The plane was out of action for a while, but no one was hurt and the plane flies fine today with its Garmin stack.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know.

Regards - Dave