Strange aborted landing story.

KeepItReal's thread reminded me.

I flew for TWA for 30 years.
Miz t. and I were passengers on a flight to London.
I knew all the guys on the crew and stopped by the cockpit during boarding to say 'Hi'.
A very experienced, senior crew.
I'd flown with each of them at one time or another.
I felt confident trusting our lives to them.

On the approach to Heathrow I was looking out the window.
The weather was clear and it was daylight.
We were getting lower and lower.
Really low.

And something didn't feel right.
Something was 'missing'.
And just as I realized that I hadn't heard the landing gear go down (an unmistakable sound, and feeling of deceleration) all four engines spooled up and we were going around.
HO-LEE SHIT!
They forgot to put the gear down?
UNBELIEVABLE!

We made a normal circuit and another approach and the gear came down at the proper time. Landing was uneventful.
As we left, I wanted go go ask them what the hell happened, but the cockpit door remained closed and none of the crew came out to bid us farewell.

Never did find out how that could possibly happen.
Luckily there's a Ground Proximity Warning System that gives you a very loud 'WOOP WOOP' alarm and a recorded voice command "Pull up! Pull up!"
when you get too close to the ground and your landing gear isn't down. I guess that's what got their attention and initiated the go around.
But...JEEEZ GUYS?

seems like a pretty important thing to forget. Good thing they have the warning systems.

...this is proof that the system works. Isn't it wonderful that we live in a nation where an alarm is allowed to sound?

Bad enough that I've seen deadheading crew members look concerned a few times>

Wow, what a story!

Perhaps what had happened...they were so comfortable that they simply forgot? Or assumed someone else was taking care of it?

Who knows?

Yikes...

Good thing there was the alarm system!

Thanks for sharing this today...:hug:

You scared them witless!

Or, they were complacent and lazy and on mental autopilot...