[Rhodes22-list] For Brad. . . Pilot Error

[Philip]

In the Army we would say it was the Pilot's headspace and timing.

Phil

Pilot Forgets to Lower Landing Gear
By Associated Press
MIDDLESBORO, Ky. - A pilot ran through the usual steps of getting ready to
land his small plane, except for one little thing _ he forgot to lower his
landing gear.
Without wheels, Thomas Lepsch's Beechcraft Bonanza skidded a few hundred
feet down the runway at Middlesboro/Bell County Airport before coming to a
stop Thursday.
"I'd never been at this airport before," Lepsch said. "There's a routine you
go through as you prepare for a landing. I was distracted by another plane
taking off and simply forgot to lower the landing gear. It was pilot error."
Lepsch, 50, of Kingsport, Tenn., was not hurt, and he said there appeared to
be little damage to his small plane, which he has owned since 1985.
He said he didn't have time to panic during his unconventional landing
because he was concentrating on controlling the plane and shutting off the
fuel supply.
"There was a moment when I saw smoke and sparks when I thought of my four
children and thought to myself that I wasn't ready for them to be without a
father," he said. "I thought 'I sure hope I don't go up in a ball of fire.'"
Lepsch had been flying over eastern Kentucky "to scout out some good fishing
sites."
He said he considered driving, but after a storm front cleared out "it
looked like a beautiful day for flying."


"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution
which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence,
the money of their constituents...."  - James Madison