Landing with no landing gear

[Fuji Abound]

Strange - had a similiar problem going to Lille at the weekend on the twin.

Gear running and apparently down but not a single green in site.

A tower pass proved the gear was down, but despite several recycles still not a green in site.

Well it seemed it was either going to collapse on the landing roll or not. Fortunately it didnt.

Turned out their is one position in the cabin dim rheostat that results in the greens being invisible - should have known perhaps but it has caught out those with far more experienceon type than me.

[S-Works]

Originally Posted by IO540

Normally there would be an indicator light somewhere, showing the gear pump is running. So, if there is a leak, one should spot this happening. The gear pump also drawn a lot of current which ought to be evident on things like the ammeter.

I had such a leak, internal to the gear emergency release valve. This valve releases the pressure within the system, allowing the gear to drop under its own weight (plus some gas springs for the nose wheel). This valve contains three tiny seals. Normally these are never replaced ( no need to) but on my last G-reg Annual a "new interpretation of EASA regs" caused them to be replaced, involving a great deal of labour and damaging them in the process, and they lasted only a few minutes into the flight. I released the gear and landed with it down; no big deal.

There is no gear pump light on the Seneca and I was running the de-ice systems so already seeing massive movements on the ammeters so when the pump was running it would have been disguised by the hot props and cycling and me running the boots.

[possel]

Originally Posted by smarthawke

It's one of those very long debatable topics!

Most agree that landing on tarmac does little more damage through abrasion than digging in to the grass and not so much of an abrupt stop.

I don't think there's any debate; people think that grass is softer but once you see the damage of both methods, there is no doubt - concrete every time (and lots of it!). Grass will stop you much quicker and that energy has to be absorbed somewhere. Also, a wingtip could dig into grass and turn you over, but not into concrete.