What happens when you hotdog a Baron on Take off!

I don't understand your story, but I can imagine it was painful to watch. A coworker of mine witnessed a gear up landing of a private jet.

 

Not to out do you but I saw this very same act in 1944.The plane was a B-24. Again, that old commandment..." Thou shalt maintain airspeed (and altitude) lest the earth arise and smite thee."

 

If he was taking off, and didn't rotate yet, why didn't the squat switch work to prevent this?
Gary Bobileff

 

It's been years since I've flown a Baron, but I don't think they have a squat switch. I know that gear incidents on rollout were not uncommon in Barons.

Even if it did have a squat switch, if he had begun to rotate and the struts extended, the gear would still come up, I believe.

Art owns a Baron-- he would know if they have a squat switch.

 

Hmmm
Engines full power on take-off then sudden stoppage + 3 new props.
Those engines may only be worth the accessories now.

Everytime the thought crosses my mind about a low pass, pull up, or some such, the little pilot on my shoulder says "Russ, this is a guaranteed opportunity to shine your ass in front of an audience..."

 

Is this essentially the aviator's equivalent of saying "watch this!" before powersliding into a telephone pole?

All the best,
Andrew.

 

"I meant to do that"

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJXU7EVXs2A[/ame]

 

Beautiful plane it hurts to see that

 

Bonanza's have squat switches, so I'm 99% sure Barons due too. But like Donv said, if the struts were extended it wouldn't have mattered.

 

How do you hot dog a takeoff? Sounds more like a gear failure.

Squat switches depend on year of manufacture. Can't tell what year this baron is. But a squat switch only work with all the weight on the ground. A little lift and the squat switch is irrelevant.

Silly way to wreck your plane.

 

In order for the plane to descend a little bit while on climb-out, I'm wondering if the gear up movements somehow temporarily increase the drag while the gear is coming up.

Perhaps the wheels turning sideways into the relative wind as they rise?
Or perhaps, cover hatches that open down to allow the wheel to come up?

Just seems strange to me that a plane that is starting to rise would fall back down into the ground.

I fly a fixed gear 182 so I have no experience with retractable landing gear yet.
.

 

Retracting gear increases drag for the few seconds it's cycling. So you will drop back down if you're not careful.

But I don't see how retracting gear too soon "looks cool".

 

Some of the hot rock B-24 pilots would preselect gear up and as soon as they got enough lift and the weight was off the gear it would retract when it looked like the airplane was still earthbound. But, it sometimes was when the air wasn't stabile and the lift disappeared. Much scraping and grinding under full power.

 

It does when you're doing this... although, technically, not considered "too soon" in this case.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdAyhC6QJmI[/ame]

 

What's a "squat switch" and how does it tie in to this story?

Jedi

 

A squat switch senses when there is weight on the gear. Just a micro-switch that detects oleo struct compression. Basically is in-line with the gear retract switch in the cockpit, so will not allow the gear to retract when on the ground even if commanded by the pilot.

My guess is that the pilot lifted off and retracted the gear immediately, with the intention of flying just a few feet off the ground the length of the runway and then doing a nice pull-up maneuver. Not an uncommon hot-dog stunt. However while doing so he got a bit low (maybe a slight down gust), dragged the props (notice how all the tips are turned back), and then had to set it down on the belly. New engines, new props, structural work, and a bill for (est) 80k.

 

Thanks!!

Jedi

 

that is what many don't like about the MU-2, if feels like the bottom drops out with gear in transition

 

Never seen that one before, Rob! How to scrape the bottom off a MiG-29......

 

the OP talks about using a grass field, but don't know any other details

my guess is that the pilot had little or no experience operating off grass... coming off a soft field is not the same as coming off a hard surface... take off distance is much longer, the accelleration is much slower, rotation and breaking with the ground is slower, there is much less momentum to transition to better "numbers", the transition to flight is sluggish

then we don't know what short field / soft field settings ( if any ) were used...etc

not a big deal that a few dollars can't fix

 

Jedi, I applaud your asking a good question regarding the squat switch. There are venues where you would be demeaned for not knowing what a squat switch was and this Av-Chat group's open patience and understanding is an example of why I like it and why I like and respect those who freely offer so much knowledge and experience to elevate all of us. The airline pilots and active gen av folks have certainly added valuable info to my old head even though I can't apply any of it now.
Switches

 

I'll risk an uninformed thought as well, then.

I wonder what effect transitioning landing gear has while the aircraft is in ground effect? It would be interesting to see in a wind tunnel.

Anyone have an insight?