[Amps] time to death...

[Colin Lamb]

A friend of mine has a retractable gear aircraft.  It has a gear lever that goes forward and backward to make it go down and up.  I got checked out in it a few years ago and the check pilot tried to trip me up and told me the gear was still up when I was on final.  I blindly believed him and went to move the lever to the other position.  Fortunately, he did not let me.  But, I realized how vulnerable the pilot is in that aircraft.

I suggested installing a microswitch and light on the dash - which he did last year.  Except it was a Radio Shack led (not very bright).  A few months ago, he took another pilot up for a flight, was telling him of the virtues of his aircraft and saw what he thought was a lit led.  Except it was lit by the sun hitting the side of it.  As he was on final approach, the passenger kept telling him the gear was up, but the pilot was focused on landing and ignored that, landing gear up in front of a number of friends.  Fortunately, about the only damage was the wooden prop.  This was at least the third time the aircraft has been landed wheels up, all three times with two otherwise competent pilots aboard.  In one case, two high time instructors did it.  

I mention this because it is the same thing that contest operators do.  So, having things bullet proof automatic to override gross mental errors is good.  Such things as grid trip and swr shutdown can save your amplifier.

As for the aircraft, I got one of the high brightness leds to replace the puny one and there is no question now when the gear is down - or at least when the light is on.  

73,  Colin  K7FM