…And talking of “the other crap out there…”
The article states: “Airbus A320 series of aircraft is fitted with various warning systems to alert pilots to ‘configuration issues’ such as this, although even these alerts don’t always work.” [My bold]. Really? That’s news to me. I thought these warnings tended to work very well indeed but what do I know. I’ve only been qualified on the type since 1996 but have never honed my skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East blah blah. Clearly that’s where you learn your stuff in this business. For info, the gear warning sounds off at 750 feet on the radio altimeter if any stage of flaps are down but the gear lever hasn’t been selected. I’m with Eric on his analysis. That said, the writer does go on to stress that go arounds are no big deal so I’ll doff my cap to him for that. Simon From: Doug Church via Mifnet <[email protected]> Sent: 25 September 2025 15:03 To: [email protected] Cc: Doug Church <[email protected]> Subject: [Mifnet 🛰 74305] Re: Fw: Watch: Pilots Of American Airlines Flight to Phoenix 'Forget' To Lower Landing Gear In Hair-Raising Mistake I agree with Tom and Randy. This is just an awful "story" by this writer for "Paddle Your Own Canoe." There is NO other side presented. Nothing from American Airlines. Nothing from a pilot perspective of any kind to shed some light on what did actually happen or didn't happen. Just uninformed speculation based on plane spotter video. This is the worst of what many of the internet travel sites give us and pretends it's some sort of "aviation reporting." It is not. It is not legitimate. It is clickbait. Here is the author's bio on the PYOC website: "Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying ever since... most recently for a well known European airline. Matt is passionate about the aviation industry and has become an expert in passenger experience and human-centric stories. Always keeping an ear close to the ground, Matt's industry insights, analysis and news coverage is frequently relied upon by some of the biggest names in journalism." Clickbait garbage should be decried and called out. There is a difference between actual, legitimate reporting for an actual, legitimate media outlet ... and the other crap out there. -Doug Church On Thu, Sep 25, 2025 at 9:45 AM randy essell via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Amen, Tom. Hopefully smart people will dismiss the nonsense and not give up reading legitimate news. Randy On Sep 25, 2025, at 8:27 AM, Tom Ronell via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: "dramatic headline not withstanding." Some blogs, perhaps out of necessity to publish multiple items each day, turn some things into overripe drama. Some seem more like Page Six of the New York Post with constant stories about who put smelly feet where and which lounge had dirty dishes, often than truly informative, useful information. Apparently, they feel that is what their readers want to see - or it's what they must do in order to get the eyeballs and clicks. TR _____ From: ERIC Smith via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> CC: ERIC Smith <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Date: 2025-09-25T13:04:03Z Subject: [Mifnet 🛰 74302] Re: Fw: Watch: Pilots Of American Airlines Flight to Phoenix 'Forget' To Lower Landing Gear In Hair-Raising Mistake The data was retrieved automatically after the a/c landed. AA has an app which allows the crew to watch the entire approach over their iPads for a few days afterward. Probably other airlines have the same thing. "Within a few seconds, the pilots spot their apparent mistake with the landing gears starting to lower – likely because a cockpit alert system designed to prevent exactly this kind of mistake kicked in and sounded a warning." After reading the text again I also went back to look at the video. This time I paid more attention to the word "likely." We don't actually know that the crew received any kind of warning at all, and so little real data we don't know that they went below 1000 ft. Given the interval between one a/c being cleared for t/o and what appears to the go around I think the crew initiated the go around very close to 1000 ft +/-. Again, we don't have much hard data so I'll just guess from what I see on the video. It appears to me that the crew had only Config 1 or maybe 2 as a flap setting when the video begins. That's consistent with speeds normally used on a base leg. Perhaps they got an early turn to final, perhaps they had a tailwind on the approach but in any case they didn't slow down soon enough. The a/c appears to shallow its descent just after the gear is down but before the gear doors close. This would indicate that the glide path had just been intercepted and the crew is waiting for the plane to slow before selecting landing flaps. It became apparent to the crew that they would not slow down enough by 1000 ft to select landing flaps without over speeding them so they wisely went around. At AA the approach is unstable in you are at 1000 ft and the flaps are not fully in position. If the flap lever is in the proper position but the flaps haven't made it there yet the approach is unstable-a go around is required. To sum things up, I don't believe the crew "forgot" to lower the gear at all. Chances are that they initiated a go around before any hairs were raised, dramatic headline not withstanding. The entire scenario I've laid out could have happened without any parameters having been exceeded. In that case the crew would not have received a call from our safety folks to discuss it. AA has a no-fault go around policy. If a crew goes around at the proper time all is good, no additional attention required. Eric On 09/24/2025 11:40 PM EDT Karl L. Swartz via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Eric, thank your informed details versus my somewhat-educated guesses. We don’t actually know WHY they extended the landing gear when they did. Based on what your details, had the alert gone off the appropriate reaction would have been to initiate the go-around rather than futzing with the landing gear, so it’s possible they noticed the missing LG late and tried to save it before flying below 1,000 AGL. The important thing is that they ultimately did they right thing by going around. -- Karl On Sep 24, 2025, at 4:38 PM, ERIC Smith via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: AA's procedures are that crews must go around from unstable approaches. To be stable at 1000 ft AGL the gear must be down and landing flaps configured, otherwise a go around is required. For the GPWS to have alerted the crew that the gear was not down the plane must have been well below 1000 ft. Eric On 09/24/2025 7:02 PM EDT Karl L. Swartz via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Tom and Tom, The still is from a few seconds into the video. At the beginning, the gear is up and the gear doors are closed. then they start to extend the gear. It’s not clear if they started the go-around as the gear was extending or after it was down (and perhaps locked). -- Karl On Sep 24, 2025, at 12:06 PM, Tom Ronell via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: If they forgot to lower the gear, why are the gear doors open? TR _____ From: Jack Keady via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > To: David Wardell via Mifnet <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > CC: Jack Keady <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Date: 2025-09-24T18:51:30Z Subject: [Mifnet 🛰 74282] Fw: Watch: Pilots Of American Airlines Flight to Phoenix 'Forget' To Lower Landing Gear In Hair-Raising Mistake … -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revised: 20250507 You are receiving The Mifnet because you requested to join this list. The Mifnet is largely a labor of love, however the infrastructure isn't exactly cost-free. 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