CONCEPT

Gear-Up Landing

  • Gear-Up Landing

  • A Gear-Up Landing (also called a belly landing) occurs when an aircraft equipped with retractable landing gear touches down with the landing gear in the retracted position.
  • In aviation lore, it is famously summarized by the adage:
    "There are two kinds of pilots who fly retractable gear: those who have landed gear-up, and those who will."
  • Usually results from an interrupted or skipped pre-landing checklist (such as GUMP: Gas, Undercarriage, Mixture, Propeller) during traffic pattern distractions or unexpected air traffic control instructions.
  • See Gear-Up Belly Landing in a Piper Arrow at Hillsboro Airport.
These facts are as Randal recalls them, but much time has passed for most of this. If you find a factual error, please email realmerlyn@gmail.com.