After getting my private pilot certificate in October 2014, I added a complex endorsement. I wanted to be able to fly more than one airplane; the flight school had only one airplane like the one I learned to fly—and it was often in use. After some 10 hours of instruction I received the endorsement and decided to make a solo flight. The day was sunny—quite rare in northern Ohio in the winter—and the air was calm. I hopped in the airplane, a Piper Arrow IV, and took off from Lorain County Regional Airport (LPR) for Erie-Ottawa International Airport (PCW).
The scenery along Lake Erie was breathtaking. I entered the pattern and did the prelanding check GUMPS—gas, undercarriage, mixture, prop, and seatbelts. Gas—fullest tank; undercarriage—gear in transit; mixture—full rich; prop—full forward; seatbelts—fastened.
As I felt the gear drop I noticed the gear-down lights did not come on; they briefly flickered and went off. Let’s try this again. Gear up, yes, it seems they are coming up—now gear down. I felt them drop and the drag increase but no lights. I was turning from downwind to base and apparently I did not have landing gear. A brief wave of panic swept over me, but I remembered my training. Whenever faced with a dicey situation, don’t panic—fly the airplane first, determine a course of action, and troubleshoot the problem. I exited the pattern to the south, flew about 10 nautical miles away from the airport, and climbed to 3,500 feet.
I then tried again to drop the gear, and the lights still did not come on. I could feel the drag of the gear, so I knew they were going down, but without the three green lights I could not be sure they were deployed. I cycled them a couple more times. I then did an emergency deployment where you manually release the gear. I could again feel the drag, but no green lights. I decided the best course of action would be to fly back to my home airport and radio for someone to check the landing gear as I flew low over the field.
Suddenly I remembered my flight instructor telling me that one of the things he likes to do is turn off the dimmer switch for the landing lights to make sure that the student notices the lights are not lit. It is not enough to deploy the gear—one also must verify they are down by looking at the three green lights. This was his way of making sure the student verifies the gear is down.
So I started working the dimmer switch, turning it all the way up and all the way down, but still no three green lights. There was a flicker, but no steady green. Finally, I turned the switch all the way up, then pushed until it clicked full on—and three green lights glowed. The landing gear was deploying just fine, but in the bright sunlight of the cockpit the lights could not be seen unless the panel dimmer switch was turned all the way on.
With the mystery solved I turned back to Port Clinton, where I was able to enter the pattern and verify three green lights on the landing gear. I then had a $275 cheeseburger and a fun conversation with my flight instructor on the phone. I told him I found the dimmer switch, which gave him a good laugh. I later learned that the person who had flown the airplane before me had flown it at night, and had dimmed the lights.
So what did I learn? Several important lessons:
When faced with a tense situation, always fly the airplane first and troubleshoot second. When troubleshooting a problem, climb to a safe altitude and get away from the airport so as to not be a danger to yourself and to others.
Don’t panic! In my case, I had plenty of fuel and time to sort out the situation, so the pressure to quickly arrive at a solution was not there. Don’t let a minor problem become a major catastrophe.
Determine a course of action, then proceed calmly along that course. I got out of the way of other traffic, worked the problem, and then decided to return to my home airport and have someone inspect the gear. That gave me time to think about what the issue could be—and in that time of calm I was able to find the solution.
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