Pilot Forgets to Lower Wheels for Landing

Filed in archive Aviation News on July 16, 2007

It was suppose to be a normal flight for Thomas Lepsh. But, after completing his normal pre-landing routine, he forgot one thing, which so happens to be the most important thing, the landing gear.

He skidded a few hundred feet on Middlesboro/Bell County Airport in Kentucky. Luckily, no one was hurt.

"I'd never been at this airport before," Lepsch said. "There's a routine you go through as you prepare for a landing. I was distracted by another plane taking off and simply forgot to lower the landing gear. It was pilot error."

Lepsch, 50, of Kingsport, Tenn., was not hurt, and he said there appeared to be little damage to his small plane, which he has owned since 1985.

He said he didn't have time to panic during his unconventional landing because he was concentrating on controlling the plane and shutting off the fuel supply.

"There was a moment when I saw smoke and sparks when I thought of my four children and thought to myself that I wasn't ready for them to be without a father," he said. "I thought 'I sure hope I don't go up in a ball of fire.'"

Source