When should the landing gear be Lowered

[fintan]

Hi All,

When should one lower the landing Gear, is there a rough time, ie when over the OM or when your fully capturing the ils or is it at your discretion etc?

Cheers

[BlueEagle]

On a procedural ILS we used to put the gear down on intercepting the glide slope, say about 3000' but in reality on a radar vectored approach it is usually left until a bit later. What does your company SOP say about the minimum height at which the approach should be fully stabilised?

[two speed prop 3]

Before you hit the ground!

[Harrier46]

Damn, beaten to it! I was going to say just before landing. Sorry, couldn't restrain myself.

[Damheadwinds]

I think BlueEagle is right on !
SOP's should dictate when and where you put the gear down and this will depend on your aircraft type and a number of other factors stated in the SOP's.

I have found that for light twins generaly on glideslope intercept or just before ie half dot below works well as most light piston twins have a gear extension speed down towards the cat B approach speed ( 120-180kts ) so it helps to get you in the groove as well as helping to innitiate the descent and get you slowed up.

If your not in a SOP type environment ie private pilot then it is up to you.

It will all depend on where you are how profficient you are and who is up your back side as to how fast you can or want to go down the slide.

I would also add in that it should definately be out at the outer marker at the latest so you can use the outer marker as a final check point and not have to run any checks from that point on except for the landing clearance checks and of course PUF ( pitch undercariage flap )prior to landing !!

If you use the outer marker or FAF as your get everything done by point you should be in a good position to face the nasty end of the approach.

Hope this helps ?

[fintan]

I knew i should have put "before you hit the ground" in my orignal post, it was so obvious somone would have to say that Cheers all

[Engineer]

Precision Approach
On LOC and when GS indicator becomes active between 1 and 2 dots

Non Precision
Just prior to FAF within approx 30sec or 1.5nm

Low Viz circling approach
Prior to downwind leg hence having aircraft stabilised in landing config before baseleg

[corsair]

Perched as I am sometimes by the OM for EIDW's 10. I can say that the Ryanairs rarely dangle the Dunlops until well after they pass over the big factory there. Must be SOP. Most others drop the gear just after the OM.

[sheenboy]

for anybody that knows SW London well - nearly every aircraft I have seen lowers it landing gear over the allotments next to Sheen Court off Sheen Road near Richmond. You can set your watch by it

[JEP]

On a PPL flying af single engine Cessna we encourage people to extend gear at:

When doing ILS Approach: On caoturing the GS
ILS with circling: on downwind abeam the threshold

VFR-circuits: On downwind abeam the threshold OR when passing 1000´ AGL.

Furthermore the gear is checked down and locked on final at 500' AGL.

[SQUAWKIDENT]

"for anybody that knows SW London well - nearly every aircraft I have seen lowers it landing gear over the allotments next to Sheen Court off Sheen Road near Richmond. You can set your watch by it"

I beg to differ. They wait until they spot the Harrods Depository opposite FFC THEN they lower the gear;-)

The one exception being P.I.A who have a habit of waiting until they fly over Hounslow High Street..(if landing on 27L/R)

[Old Smokey]

Common sense says that flexibility is called for, and safety says that a 'no later than' point be established by you if not already dictated in Standard Operating Procedures. It's silly not to use the rubber speedbrakes a little early if you're hot and high, and patently unsafe if you take gear down so late that you're unsure if there's time to achieve 'Down and Locked' indications too late for a stable approach.

Above all else, if you do forget to put 'em down, make sure you put the gear lever down before you leave the wreckage - it looks much better to the investigators.

[akerosid]

Isn't there a relationship between flap extension and gear selection; i.e. on many carriers, I notice that the gear extension follows the penultimate flap selection, i.e. flaps 20 on a 747/767 or Config 3 on an Airbus; so, it would be flap 20, gear down, then flap 30.

[TWApilot]

On most airplanes, you can only extend the flaps to a certain point without hearing the horrible gear warning horn. So, on the 767 for instance, you can extend flaps to 20, and fly along with the gear up in silence. But once you select flaps 25 or 30, the obnoxious gear horn starts and it cannot be silenced without lowering the gear.

Also, the gear is noisy so you don't want to extend it untill you get withing 5 miles or so. Thus, you'll work the flaps out to about 20 degrees, and then wait till you need the gear, then drop the gear followed by the rest of the flaps.

That keeps it nice and quiet.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

It might not just be a case of when it must be lowered, but at what height should all final checks be complete and aircraft in the landing configuration(which incorporates checking gear down and locked, etc) as with some SOP's.

Worse case scenario, the GPWS will remind you

[skyrabbit]

How very topical N_S_R!!!!!!

Bunny

[Staller]

Id say

90%- 95% of a/c have gear down by Kew Bridge, currently I watch them extend over my work site in Kew for 27(L) R approaches.

Always interesting to see 27R being used and then a lowly BA 73 or the like nips in on 27L presumably for T4! (only occasionally, and I wouldnt be implying any favourtism from ATC)