Texting pilot forgets landing gear

[joseephuss]

http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/distracted-pilot-forgets-to-lower-landing-gear.html

Distracted pilot forgets to lower landing gear

We all know that playing on a cell phone while driving a car is a no-no. So, it stands to reason that commercial airline pilots would abstain while flying. Never assume, folks. Never assume.

In a story that is sure to cause no small amount of outrage, a Jetstar pilot was forced to abort his Singapore landing when he realized at the last moment (the plane was 392 feet from the ground) that he'd forgotten to put the landing gear down. His excuse: He was distracted by incoming text messages to his phone.

The incident, which took place on a 220-seat Airbus A320, occurred on May 27, 2010. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau recently released the findings of its investigation. The captain was no rookie. He had more than 13,000 hours of flight experience, while the co-pilot had around 4,000 hours.

According to the investigation's findings, the plane's co-pilot turned off the automatic pilot in preparation to land. At this point, the captain's cell phone started making noises. The captain apparently tried to turn it off, but had trouble unlocking it.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Umm, shouldn't the phone have been off in the first place? Especially during take off and landing. In Airplane mode (which is incapable of receiving text messages in that mode) during mid-flight.

Can his ***.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

One would think that it would be an automatic thing that they would put the landing gear up on take off and down before getting ready to land. Almost a routine that would kind of move into muscle memory type of situation. I guess it depends on how long the guy had been a pilot.

Another thing...One would think that on most commercial flights that the pilot would have plenty of time between take off and landing to do all the texting he wants without worry instead of doing it at those critical times.

Just weird.

 

[Rack]

lol omg?

 

[joseephuss]

One would think that it would be an automatic thing that they would put the landing gear up on take off and down before getting ready to land. Almost a routine that would kind of move into muscle memory type of situation. I guess it depends on how long the guy had been a pilot.

Another thing...One would think that on most commercial flights that the pilot would have plenty of time between take off and landing to do all the texting he wants without worry instead of doing it at those critical times.

Just weird.

Maybe he can only get a cell phone signal when he is taking off and landing and not at the cruising altitudes.

 

[YosemiteSam]

An alarm goes off if you get close to the ground without the landing gear out. My guess is that it would be around the 400 feet mark. (about where this guy was when he noticed it wasn't out) I know most pilots raise the gear around the 50-150 feet off the ground. I figure that should set off the alarm too though.

 

[joseephuss]

An alarm goes off if you get close to the ground without the landing gear out. My guess is that it would be around the 400 feet mark. (about where this guy was when he noticed it wasn't out) I know most pilots raise the gear around the 50-150 feet off the ground. I figure that should set off the alarm too though.

Yes, but it would turn off fast as they quickly ascend up past 400 ft.