Gear Up on Highway?

[luvflyin]

The gear wouldn’t come down so he had to land on the Highway. Must be a little more to the story. https://www.witn.com/2022/08/01/no-...ncy-landing-washington-county/?outputType=amp

 

[Dave Theisen]

Shut down a small airport, nobody cares. Shut down the highway, you make the news!

 

[Morgan3820]

The gear wouldn’t come down so he had to land on the Highway. Must be a little more to the story. https://www.witn.com/2022/08/01/no-...ncy-landing-washington-county/?outputType=amp

I did not understand this either. Why would the engine stop and the gear fail to deploy? The gear will deploy without the engine running. PLus, The emergency gear deployment is pretty robust. Gravity is on your side. Glad he was OK. My insurance just went up though.

 

[luvflyin]

I did not understand this either. The emergency gear deployment is pretty robust. Gravity is on your side.

Yeah. Musta been an engine failure. The news made it sound like the gear failure is what caused the off airport landing. Thought I’d just start right out with silly reporting and get it over with. I can’t tell if the prop is bent

 

[Morgan3820]

Yeah. Musta been an engine failure. The news made it sound like the gear failure is what caused the off airport landing. Thought I’d just start right out with silly reporting and get it over with. I can’t tell if the prop is bent

The news also called it a Piper Cub. In the picture I saw the prop did not look bent. I don’t think will ever find out what actually was going on but I do find the whole thing curious. He did at least have the presence of mind to put the flaps down.

 

[sarangan]

The gear wouldn’t come down so he had to land on the Highway. Must be a little more to the story. https://www.witn.com/2022/08/01/no-...ncy-landing-washington-county/?outputType=amp

Following an engine failure, the pilot either chose to land with gear up because he wasn't sure if he would be able to put it down on the road, or may be he simply forgot to lower the landing gear.

 

[flyingron]

Frankly, unless I suspect there's a problem with the gear system itself, I'm going to land gear down. I land gear down-down on a grass strip on a majority of my landings, so in an emergency, I do the same.

 

[Albany Tom]

The news also called it a Piper Cub. In the picture I saw the prop did not look bent. I don’t think will ever find out what actually was going on but I do find the whole thing curious. He did at least have the presence of mind to put the flaps down.

The gear retract has never worked right on any cub I've flown. Granted, I've only flown about four or five different cubs. Glad he got the flaps down. Maybe the initial problem was an electrical failure?

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

One assumes that a pilot made rational decisions. This is sometimes not the case. Examples: The airplane that I flew to get my retreads had been "destroyed" (per NTSB) when a solo student pilot panicked and elected to land in a field instead of on the runway. Or, a student pilot (who was wearing a parachute) on a long cross country ran out of gas on final, turned away from the airport, and jumped.

 

[Half Fast]

One assumes that a pilot made rational decisions.

Well, it’s better than assuming a reporter will write a reasonable news story. And this one is a fine example.....

 

[Daleandee]

Perhaps he wanted to greatly shorten the rollout ...

 

[Half Fast]

Or he realized the insurance company wouldn't pay out for an engine stoppage, but would pay for a totaled aircraft.

 

[Racerx]

Looks like a lot of open field in the background...