You know guys, I've seen 8-12 gearups over the past 20 years. Ranging from light single engine
general aviation aircraft to small jets. I was always amazed that landing gear up on pavement
virtually always worked out better than landing in grass.
When they belly flopped on the pavement, they usually only lost some paint and maybe a
boarding ladder or antenna. The ones on the grass would tend to crumple up a tad more due
to the softer surface.
Most of the incidents were pilot error, I do remember one poor slob in a Baron 55 that had
his gear motor freeze up after takeoff. He had just topped off so had to spend 4 hours circling
the field until he was light enough to land reasonably safely. The left gear was completely up
and the right main was frozen at about a 60 degree angle. He made a straight in and
feathered the props on final. He ended up "blending" the left prop a bit but saved both engines
from sudden stoppage.
It turns out that the owner had lent this baron to a flight instructor knowing that the gear
motor circuit breaker had been tripping. He never said anything to the instructor and in fact
gave him a hard time for not leaving the engines running so that insurance would pay for two
new motors.
I'm amazed that instructor didn't flatten the owner for that, but he was the bigger man.
<And possibly still needed the bird for his CFII..I forget>
