Melmoth 2 Lands Gear Up, 08 OCT 26

[Kenny Phillips]

Meaningless to most of you, but Peter Garrison, a writer for Flying magazine for four decades or so with a technical column (for which I've supplied material) and an accident analysis column, plotzed M2 (which he built) onto the runway with the rolling stock stowed.
Which will likely end the plane's tenure with him, per his musings: http://www.aerologic.com/M2website/texts/Progress.htm
He flew its predecessor, Melmoth, all over the world. His aim was always to make a fast airplane that sips fuel, like a Mooney, but much better.

 

[Dave Theisen]

Damn. Just forgot.

 

[FORANE]

Interesting aircraft. Never heard of it before reading this post and looking it up. If the specs are correct it would make for a compelling design.

 

[Pugs]

I sure remember his stories in Flying in the 70s about the building and long trips of the original Melmoth

 

[GeorgeC]

Shoot

 

[Mason]

Oops. Bummer.

 

[Dave Theisen]

Hate to give ammunition to folks in another thread, but he is 83 years old.

 

[bbchien]

what.........a.........bummer........

 

[hindsight2020]

liability only I'm assuming? Usually hull coverage pays for prop strike inspection and R/R.

 

[Dana]

liability only I'm assuming? Usually hull coverage pays for prop strike inspection and R/R.

83 years old in a one of a kind high performance airplane, liability may not be available.

 

[FormerHangie]

Hate to give ammunition to folks in another thread, but he is 83 years old.

Does this happen only to octogenarian pilots?

 

[geezer]

IF HE WAS 60 YEARS YOUNGER, HE WOULD SET UP A GO FUND ME SITE, AND BE GOOD TO GO.

 

[RyanShort1]

Oh, that sucks. Hope it gets repaired and flies again, soon.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

Hate to give ammunition to folks in another thread, but he is 83 years old.

If you read his writing, you'll know he's still sharp as a tack. The people I know that landed gear up were 40 or younger. But then again, so was I back in that time.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

Oh, that sucks. Hope it gets repaired and flies again, soon.

In his account of the event, he notes that he cannot afford to repair it, as besides an expensive propeller, the engine will require a TDI; this indicates no hull coverage.
So he'll likely sell it. It's on the wrong end of the world for me, unfortunately.
I would rebuild the engine myself, and save the labor portion of that money, but the prop is gonna be pricey.

 

[Dave Theisen]

Does this happen only to octogenarian pilots?

If you read his writing, you'll know he's still sharp as a tack. The people I know that landed gear up were 40 or younger. But then again, so was I back in that time.

I’m not saying anything bad about him, I’ve enjoyed his articles for years. My point was, there’s a group of folks from another thread, who I disagree with, that will say, “see, I told you so”.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

I’m not saying anything bad about him, I’ve enjoyed his articles for years. My point was, there’s a group of folks from another thread, who I disagree with, that will say, “see, I told you so”.

Yes. Given my current age (and the history of my family retaining both mental and physical faculties late in life) I'm a bit resentful of them.

 

[donjohnston]

From his June 2024 entry:

After being away most of the month of May and half of June, I finally finished the installation of the lidar gear warning system and flew the plane for the first time in 3 months. It started instantly and seemed none the worse for the long period of idleness. I found that I had by now forgotten which color wire I needed to disconnect to override the gear position signal and test the lidar portion of the system, but that can wait. Ironically, returning to Whiteman, when I was a mile or so out, I ran the landing checklist and found that I had failed to put the gear down. I attribute that oversight to my approaching fast straight in, so as not to inconvenience the airplane turning base behind me. I slowed from 130 to 100 knots rapidly with the airbrake,then put down half flaps. This was a deviation from my normal practice, which is to put the gear down before the flaps.Perhaps I unconsciously consider the flaps a confirmation that the gear is already down. If so, I had better make it my unvarying practice to do gear first, then flaps.

July 2025:

I modified the lidar gear warning software to make the beep rate of the alarm signal inversely proportional to height; this is supposed to convey a sense of urgency as I descend gear-up toward the runway wondering what that beeping noise I'm hearing is all about.

I guess the gear warning system didn't work or wasn't loud enough.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

From his June 2024 entry:

After being away most of the month of May and half of June, I finally finished the installation of the lidar gear warning system and flew the plane for the first time in 3 months. It started instantly and seemed none the worse for the long period of idleness. I found that I had by now forgotten which color wire I needed to disconnect to override the gear position signal and test the lidar portion of the system, but that can wait. Ironically, returning to Whiteman, when I was a mile or so out, I ran the landing checklist and found that I had failed to put the gear down. I attribute that oversight to my approaching fast straight in, so as not to inconvenience the airplane turning base behind me. I slowed from 130 to 100 knots rapidly with the airbrake,then put down half flaps. This was a deviation from my normal practice, which is to put the gear down before the flaps.Perhaps I unconsciously consider the flaps a confirmation that the gear is already down. If so, I had better make it my unvarying practice to do gear first, then flaps.

July 2025:

I modified the lidar gear warning software to make the beep rate of the alarm signal inversely proportional to height; this is supposed to convey a sense of urgency as I descend gear-up toward the runway wondering what that beeping noise I'm hearing is all about.

I guess the gear warning system didn't work or wasn't loud enough.

I am tempted to ask him about that, but ... too soon.

 

[geezer]

I followed his Melmoth 1 from dream to flight, and marveled at his mental creativity, combined with the mechanical skills to translate an idea into physical reality.

As someone whose profession involved understanding someone else's very complex mixed analog and digital control device, finding the weakness in its function in our specific use, then modifying the function and wiring, I sympathize with his multiple areas of focus. Every flight, he must analyze what the plane is doing, is it what he thought it should do, or is another iteration of the design needed, PLUS FLY THE PLANE.

Hindsight, it is clear that he should have a digitally stored voice saying "GEAR DOWN", louder than his beeper.

It is challenging to focus on making the changes, perfectively, the first time, and being responsible for the manual operation of a large and critical power substation. I had to hear the sound of some small devices, or very large and noisy ones, drop what I was doing, and promptly respond as the computer would have done. I then returned to the modification project, exactly where I had been interrupted.

Flying a plane and thinking in that mode would be a challenge for even Bob Hoover in his best days.

 

[Lowflynjack]

I fly a few planes with retractable gear, but for the most part I'm in my 182. I find myself being overly cautious when flying something RG.

Back in 2017, I got to shoot this Berkut and was impressed with the builder. He told me he gets a gear warning when he pulls the throttle back. If he doesn't acknowledge it, he gets a second warning. Ignore that one and the gear drops on it's own. The things you can do with a homebuilt.

 

[RalphInCA]

I remember Melmoth! Great series of articles.

Didn't he also write for Popular Science? Or was that some other home built author?

 

[Lindberg]

If you read his writing, you'll know he's still sharp as a tack.

I have no idea how one could judge mild or moderate age-related cognitive decline from an edited writing source. Not to mention, it isn't linear or consistent. My BIL has early Alzheimer's. You could talk to him for hours and not notice anything wrong, unless he tells you about how he went to the store for a mango and came back with a bell pepper. But he wouldn't tell you that because he didn't know it wasn't a mango. Now, I wouldn't know Garrison if I bumped into him on the street and have no idea what his mental faculties are like. But the vast majority of 83-year-olds will have lost significant cognitive speed, especially at divided-attention tasks, not to mention hearing loss. I'm just saying that you can't rule out any of that based on his writting.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

I remember Melmoth! Great series of articles.

Didn't he also write for Popular Science? Or was that some other home built author?

He has written for many publications; Flying is the long-term consistent gig.

 

[Pinecone]

I would kick in some bucks for a GFM to fix.

I also followed the building and flying the first version

 

[3393RP]

Peter Garrison is the last man standing of the collection of contributors Flying assembled in the late 60s and through the 70s and 80s. The list includes Richard Collins, Ernest Gann, Len Morgan, Gordon Baxter, Dick Karl, and several other aviation notables. These men provided a substantial body of work that was entertaining and instructive. We won't ever see anyone eclipse the love of aviation they shared, and my memories of those days are still rattling around in this old brain.

 

[kyleb]

Peter Garrison is the last man standing of the collection of contributors Flying assembled in the late 60s and through the 70s and 80s. The list includes Richard Collins, Ernest Gann, Len Morgan, Gordon Baxter, Dick Karl, and several other aviation notables. These men provided a substantial body of work that was entertaining and instructive. We won't ever see anyone eclipse the love of aviation they shared, and my memories of those days are still rattling around in this old brain.

Add Richard Bach to the list.

 

[steingar]

What I liked abut my Mooney is the gear was the speed brake. Not easy to slow down enough to deploy flaps without first dropping the gear. I also slowed down and dirtied up the airframe a couple miles out, so that during the downwind leg I was mostly looking outside for airplanes, a practice I would encourage for anyone flying a retractable gear airplane.

A pal had to sell his Mooney because after he turned 80 he also turned uninsurable in it, at least for a price he could afford.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

What I liked abut my Mooney is the gear was the speed brake. Not easy to slow down enough to deploy flaps without first dropping the gear.

They are difficult to gear up if you're paying attention for that exact reason, especially if you're coming down from altitude on a long cross country which is what Mooneys are best at.

FWIW, I usually see 160 KIAS in the descent and start reducing power 20 miles out; at 5 miles I'm reducing to 14" MP which is the very edge of the gear warning and I'm still doing 155 KIAS, I have to wait a couple more minutes after that reduction before I'm at 140 KIAS and can drop the gear, and you have to go all the way down to 110 to find the white arc. So, a 50-knot slowdown!

If you were just in the pattern and never got that fast, maybe... But it still baffles me when someone manages to gear up a Mooney because it's a dirt-simple system and the plane tries REALLY hard to let you know long before it happens.

As for the Melmoth, it's a sad end to a very cool story. If there was a GFM I'd throw a few bucks his way too, but I also kinda feel like maybe he's using this as a signal/excuse/sign that it's time to hang it up.