Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19990722025357.02fafc30@olsusa.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 02:53:57 -0400
To: lancair.list@olsusa.com
From: Marvin Kaye <marvkaye@olsusa.com>
Subject: GUMPF!
Mime-Version: 1.0

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I'm sure most of you have seen the word GUMPF before... in case you've
forgotten, though, it's an acronym for a landing checklist that stands for 

Gas... on and on proper tank
Undercarriage... wheels down and locked
Mixture... full rich
Prop... fine pitch
Flaps... proper position for this particular landing

So now you're wondering why are we holding Flying 101 on the LML??  Well,
this time it's to focus on the "U" in GUMPF and to pass on a bit of
information that I hated to hear but feel duty bound to share.

I had the opportunity to visit one of our Lancair-flying brethren yesterday
who suffered a temporary lapse of concentration during the landing phase
and managed to land his pretty L320 with the gear neatly tucked into the
wells.  His first indication of a problem was a loud "BANG" and the view of
one end of the prop sailing over the top of the canopy.  He told me the
remainder of the slide was pretty uneventful, with rudder authority
remaining down to about 40 MPH allowing him to get the nose headed to the
side of the runway before the aircraft came to rest.  He also mentioned
that there was very little noise passed into his headset, even though he
was sanding off the bottom of his airplane with that triple-ought grit
asphalt.  Fortunately he emerged from the airplane without personal injury,
except to his pride and pocketbook, of course.

In the process of sliding some 600+ feet he did manage to sand off his
pitot tube, transponder antenna, the bottom 1.5" of the cowl's chin scoop,
14" long triangles off of the inboard aft edges of both flaps, and a
roughly circular dinner-plate sized hole into the middle of the bottom of
the fuselage... that hole went all the way into the cabin, taking off a
small part of the center console as well.  Considering this violent
treatment of the airframe, I was, quite frankly, astounded by the lack of
more extensive damage.  He figures the total repair bill will come to about
$1300, $975 of which is to replace the prop.  The rest is for fresh epoxy,
micro, paint, and a new transponder antenna.  All things considered, it
could have been much worse.  This is one tough little airplane!  (In case
you're wondering, he had the prop flange checked with a dial indicator for
runout by an A&P, found max runout to be 0.0045"... last time it was
checked and entered into the engine log it was reported as 0.0040", and the
A&P told him to replace the prop, get it rebalanced and go flying.
Something to be said for a wood prop under those circumstances.)

Enough of the gruesome details, back to GUMPF...  this pilot's attitude
about GUMPF was that it didn't apply to him because his engine is fed from
the header tank and it's always on so there goes "G", and he has a fixed
pitch prop, so there goes "P".  I understand this viewpoint but feel that
the argument is specious as there is no valid excuse for not using some
sort of checklist during landing.  Even when I was training in a lowly C172
my flight instructor had me go through the entire mantra every time and
today it is a habit... I say each letter out loud and touch the control it
relates to at least 3 times during the landing phase, and if there is
something there that doesn't count (like when flying an airplane with a
fixed pitch prop) I still say the letter because it's part of the chant.
It might be a minimalist approach to a landing checklist, but it works most
times and has kept me from ever turning from base to final without knowing
that the feeties were down.

I realize that most of your are much higher time pilots than myself, many
of you have ATP and/or CFI tickets and thousands of hours and don't require
these sorts of reminders... just the same, if you don't use GUMPF please
use something that forces you to follow a procedure during the landing
phase so we don't get to hear another first-hand story about how tough
these aiplanes really are.

   <Marv>
  

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