When
it comes to flying retracts, stats show that there is more truth to the
often heard phrase; "There are those who have, and
those who will..." than you would like.
Before you scoff at the concept, ask yourself how often you have forgotten something-anything, like being distracted and forgetting to to turn off your car's lights, close the gas cap latch, or take your briefcase or jacket home (even though you do it regularly), or maybe forgetting to take the chocks away prior to start-up of your aircraft...?
Checklists and training aside, forgetting something in the
cockpit isn't that much different as (after all), we are all human and most
of us can use all the
help we can get. On top of that, ask
anyone who has
joined the red-faced "Have"
sect of the infamous
Gear-Up Club and you will almost universally
hear that they simply didn't "hear" (read; properly interpret) the
antiquated monotone gear horn soon enough! Others report they didn't
remember hearing it at all... Most all "Have" members of the GU Club
report that something interrupted their normal routine or detracted them as being an element in
their embarrassing "wheel-less" arrival.
Almost to a man (or women), these aren't
inept,
inexperienced, or slack retract pilots who fail to get recurrent training or
use checklists! They include front-line
astronauts, military and airline pilots, CFIIs and even factory demo pilots some
of whom fly more in a month or two than most retract pilots fly in a year!
One factor in play nowadays is that with today's modern ANR headsets, we
question if the typical pilot (not expecting a gear horn) can actually hear the stock monotone horn well enough
or soon enough to equate the message with the meaning?
In any event, we think the
FAA/NTSB
accident/incident stats bear out our findings that to fly a retract like a
Mooney without
a clear "specific message" audio warning system is paramount to playing "belly
roulette" jeopardizing not only your belly skins, prop, and engine, but also
your license, insurability, and aerial self-esteem.... And besides
the substantial expense, the typical "gear-up" can mean upwards of 3 months
(or more) down-time! Since the facts show this technology not only
works, but all but eliminates the threat of this type of accident, it simply doesn't make good sense not to do everything you can
to help insure it doesn't happen to you.
Check out our "How They Work" section and order your Audio Advisory System today, before...