Retractable Procedures

Monday, August 24, 2020 at 02:01 PM ET

Verified

Piper's Arrow is a popular choice for pilots looking to step up to a retractable-gear airplane. As with other retracts, though, when and how you decide to raise or lower its landing gear can affect your performance expectations. This PA-28R-200 Arrow II was captured by D. Miller.

Key Takeaways:

The market for new retractable single-engine piston aircraft has significantly declined due to factors like higher maintenance/insurance costs and improved fixed-gear designs, though used retractables remain popular for their performance value.
Flying retractable-gear aircraft presents a notable risk of unintentional gear-up landings, underscoring the critical importance of pilots consistently following multi-step configuration change procedures and verifying gear status.
While retractable landing gear offers performance benefits such as increased speed and range, it introduces trade-offs including added weight, complexity, and higher operational expenses.
Beyond standard operations, retractable gear serves as a valuable tool for managing abnormal flight situations, such as executing rapid descents when "high and hot" or stabilizing an aircraft.

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Retractable landing gear seems to have fallen out of favor among designers and manufacturers of new piston singles. Cessna hasn’t made a retractable single since the mid-1980s. Today’s most popular single-engine piston airplanes, the Cirrus SR20 and 22, have fixed gear. In fact, 2019 member-company data from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association show a grand total of 37 piston-powered, single-engine retractables were delivered last year by Mooney, Piper and Textron/Beechcraft combined. Contrast that with the 37 copies of only one retractable model—the PA-32-301T Saratoga II TC—that Piper delivered in 2006.

Reasons for the decline in retractable singles’ popularity are many, and include some unpleasant truths about the market for personal airplanes, and the cost of maintaining and insuring them, plus achievements in streamlining the latest fixed-gear designs, which easily can be faster than a retract with the same engine. Yet retractable singles remain popular on the used aircraft market because they offer a lot of transportation value. If the weight and complexity of the retracting system isn’t a drawback to your mission or wallet, “stepping up” to a retractable single might be a good choice. Just be advised that doing so will change the way you fly.