Three green, no red.
Don't you just love the sound landing gear makes as it extends into the slipstream? What a delightful sound to hear an electro-hydraulic landing gear system dutifully spring to life as the gear lever is moved to the down position. The sounds of machinery and slipstream noise... these
are the sounds pilots like. Slipstream noise increases to a low roar as the gear clunks into locked position. Three green indicator lights illuminate as one red light extinguishes in the cockpit,
and you've got wheels beneath you. Major cool.
Pilots use the phrase, "Three green, no red" when verifying the landing gear is ready for landing. "Three green" means, of course, all three wheels are extended and locked. "No red" means the red
"Gear Unsafe" light has extinguished indicating the gear has completed the extension cycle and is no longer in transition, and that the gear pumps are off. Sometimes Pilots vocalize this
phrase at least three times before landing; once after the cycle has completed, once or twice during intermediate approach (i.e. on downwind and base or a two mile final), and finally once when
"crossing the fence" on short final. This system of redundant gear position checks ensures Pilots will never commit the dreaded gear-up landing
Situation:
Well, we all know the tailsitting issue, right? Sometimes there is only a small space available to put a nose weight into the fuse to avoid tailsitting. Sometimes the available space is not enough to carry all the Lead we need.
Approach to the problem:
Nothing uses the available space more effecient than a "liquid" i.e. flexible stuff. This one here
is flexible Lead. Its like a putty or a clay. Even if you´ve forgot to put a weight into the fuse, this stuff fits through the tiniest hole. Considering that, you still have a chance to drill a
little hole on a hidden spot (Nose Gear Shaft) and plug the product right into it.
Calculation:
Its 100g per unit. Assuming that around 10g fix the issue in most cases, this one is enough for 10 aircrafts. MSRP is 7,90€ so thats 0,79€ per aircraft. Not a bad deal if you ask me, especially considering that it really fits everywhere.
There is a lil story to that picture right above. Did you also wonder why the speed indicator shows like 284kts, the flaps are full up and the gear indicator shows "THREE GREEN"? Well I did. :-) Here is how it came:
To take that photo inflight, I had to hit the "press to test" switch for all of the warning lights to get them to all come on. I figured it would look much cooler while flying than just a picture sitting at the gate. The gear was definitely up!
:D That is funny stuff right there, aint it? :D Thanks a million to the active 767 pilot Brian P. Heron who was so kind to take the
shot and allow Uschi to use it here. Thanks so much, Brian! Cheers! :D
