Sure, on the face of it, it makes no sense not to attempt a manual gear extension. Not certain if it’s clear that it was attempted or not. A water landing vs. on pavement is also a curious decision. I wouldn’t have made that choice, but the facts still seem a little murky. Hopefully we will learn more about it.
But if we zero in just on the equipment… regrettably, the PA30’s manual extension procedure is definitely more complex than most of its contemporaries. I’ve probably got a similar amount of time in the Seminole and Seneca from my instructing/pilot examiner time (the latter unloggable of course, but still quite a bit of time spent actually flying the airplane and almost always involving OEI, simulated emergencies, etc.) In those aircraft the pilot simply observes an airspeed limitation, places the landing gear selector in the down position, and pulls the emergency extension plunger located on the panel near the gear lever.
Could one subjectively state that the procedure in the PA30 is also simple? Perhaps so. On the face of it, as a person who has flown it for over half of my lifetime, it seems simple to me. But spending a complete adult lifetime in this industry has taught me that a self-centric view doesn’t often pan out to a systemic one.
Instead of the procedure described above, for starters, most of the work to get TwinCo’s gear down manually happens down and between the pilot and front passenger seats. That means leaning down and messing with stuff in the belly of the ship. After slowing down and placing the gear handle in the down position, the cover must be removed, the transmission handle must be pulled to disengage it from the system, and most likely the extension lever will need to be removed from the bracket - all the way in the belly of the aircraft, a deep lean while hand flying. Now the handle will need to be inserted into one, initially, of the two exposed sockets and thrust forward, and if that doesn’t get the gear down and locked, removed, re-inserted in the other socket, and pushed forward until the green light indicates.
Yes; seems reasonably simple to me. I’ve owned it, thought through this procedure many times over many years, assisted with annuals, worked on the gear a bit.
A young pilot with, presumably, a few hundred hours to her name? Or even double that? Probably a different story. The stress lens changes what the brain perceives and how it thinks. Simple tasks become difficult. Pilots red screen the sim too. Shut down the wrong engines. Including in the real airplane. The PA30’s manual gear extension procedure is indeed involved and not to be disregarded in the total context of this story.
Whatever. I didn't "miss it", I didn't care about it. My focus was on the mechanics of it not helping a PA-30 in case anybody thought to try it.
