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Landing Gear Checks: Know Thy System

Were not suggesting you learn how to completely disassemble and reassemble the landing gear on the aircraft you fly, but instead, knowing what the system looks like when its stowed in the wheel wells and fully extended will give you a better mental picture and help you spot something thats out of place during your preflight. Since landing gear designs are all over the board-from stone simple to incredibly complex-it pays to spend some money on shop labor and have your mechanic put the aircraft on jacks so you can observe a gear retraction and extension.

While there are plenty of items that can be easily inspected to help prevent a landing gear malfunction, we’re convinced that too many pilots simply don’t spend the time to do so.

As we sift through the NTSB accident reports each month, we’re consistently finding landing gear mishaps that might have been avoided if the pilot spent a little extra time inspecting the gear during the preflight, or simply knew how to recognize potential problems areas before launching.