iFly GPS Forum

Could we have an option in the Aircraft Profile dialog to ask if we want to be warned about our gear (being up or down)?  Maybe a checkbox titled "Request Gear Warning?" or something like that?  Associated with that would be a dropdown list, or fill-in box where the user would specify an AGL altitude that if they descend through they would get a popup warning message asking them if (over land) their gear is DOWN, or (if over water) their gear is UP. 

This would be of great help, and a big safety plus, to retractable gear pilots and amphibious aircraft pilots.  As I've been told many times, "there's only 2 kinds of retractable pilots: those who've belly-landed, and those who haven't belly-landed yet".  And if making a water landing (or ditching), very few aircraft can survive a gear-down landing.  Almost all aircraft will flip, even seaplanes -- and an upside down plane, besides probably being totalled by the landing or the sinking, may very well kill the occupants.

If you need to refine the logic (to eliminate false-positives) you could also check to see if the aircraft has been descending for at least x seconds, and/or has slowed down to x% or less of defined cruise speed.  AKA: it's on a landing approach and not taking off.

Thanks.

P.S. I made this request in one of the Beta Tester forums in a semi-related thread.  I moved it out to this forum/thread so more people could see it and chime in, and so that thread wouldn't be sidetracked off its original focus.  Also, giving credit where due: the idea (above) about a user-selectable AGL altitude was made in that forum by "Greg P".

I also think a fixed altitude would probably be sufficient, and probably wouldn't require any sophisticated logic then.  Although the software does need to figure out if aircraft is low because it's taking off -- you don't want to see a warning in that instance.  I agree 500' AGL is probably a good number, but if it doesn't cause difficulty then it's not a bad idea to let the user choose the altitude.  Maybe some people want to see the warning sooner.

Just so it's not forgotten: besides the gear-down-&-locked message for ground landings, there needs to be a "gear-up?" message for water landings.  I guess there might be a bit of programming involved there to figure out whether you're approaching land or water.  Also, here's a thought: often when landing in water you're over land until very close to touchdown.  I guess the software would have to project your touchdown point.  It's also true that some airports have final approaches over water.

If the "gear-down?" message for ground landings would be easier (all things considered), then at least implement that?  It might save some BIG repair bills for somebody(s). 

Still, if it could be done, the "gear-up?" message for water landings might save some aircraft from getting completely destroyed and maybe save some lives.  So, even if it turns out to be harder it has a bigger payoff.

Brian: as long as JohnnyBlackCT and I are armchair coding, here's a further design thought: in most cases, when deciding when to pop up the gear warning message, using AGL over the current terrain would be fine.  However, as two examples, both KPAE and KTIW are on bluffs over Puget Sound. When approaching those from the north, your AGL is high (over the water) until short final, when it suddenly becomes much lower (over the land).  The warning message in instances like this could come with very little lead time.  I would suggest that instead of using AGL-over-terrain-below you use the aircraft's MSL minus the airport's defined MSL.  In that case, you'll pop up the warning when the aircraft is at the appropriate AGL above the airport.  If a destination airport has not been set, then all you can do is use AGL over the current terrain (unless you truly can project the aircraft's landing spot, and use its altitude). 

C'mon, it's probably an interesting challenge to figure where an aircraft is going to touch down.  I think you'd have the data to do it (altitude, vertical descent speed & ground speed -- simple trigonometry; just keep updating it and adding that projected ground coverage distance to your current GPS location using your current direction [that last part may not be so simple, but it's do'able I think]).  This same logic might be usable when you give us the long-awaited power-off-glide "circle" around the aircraft.  Write a general-purpose function to return touchdown coordinates based on altitude, current coordinates, vertical speed, ground speed, and direction.  Hoo-boy it's easy to code when I don't have to do the work.