Originally Posted by
meleagertoo
I've never flown an amphib either though I'd love to but I simply can't understand how pre-landing checks dont always include the one and only line that must never be omitted, even if you forget all the rest.
To check wheel position vs. landing surface.
Or do people even fly amphibs without bothering with checklists?
It's so effing basic! This is simply Darwinism in action!
With amphibs it is better to isolate the circumstances which cause it to happen - there are a few things which are taught from lesson one on land aeroplanes, as good airmanship, that will ruin your day on an amphib - the main one, which causes almost all the gear down water landings is, during a take-off from a land airport, refraining from retracting the gear whilst you still have runway in front (in case you have an engine failure) - you then forget to retract it - landing back on a land runway with the gear up on an amphib does very little damage. So BEWARE short land to water sectors.
So the SOP should ALWAYS be "positive rate, gear up" with no delay.
The trick is to do the same when taking off on water with the gear already up i.e. the SOP should be "positive rate, gear up" (i.e. just a touch drill). If you do that SOP then there is ALMOST no way to land with your gear down in the water.
There is a bit of a bad habit some seaplane pilots may have on amphibs which is to fly the approach way too fast and then bleed off the speed all the way to touchdown on the water - this has the effect of negating the safety net provided by the warning system which usually works on speed - basically, you can be touching down just as the warning goes off - maybe even before.
If you don't have the aforementioned habit then you just need to be aware of the situation where you're landing at a busy land airport and you are asked to keep the speed up on the approach to fit in with the jets - you're working a bit harder and get distracted/out of sequence and the gear is forgotten AND your high speed means no gear warnings. Also beware when adding speed additives for crosswinds and no or reduced flap situations.
Then you can layer on your checklist use and good personal habits.