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pumped are merely bypassed. I placed a small red flashing light on my instrument panel that flashes at all times when the pump is running. It serves as an unavoidable reminder to turn the pump off if I should become involved and forget, which has not happened so far (in 15 years). When landing, I place the selector switch in the "down" position while going through my checklist. I check it’s position visually on final and then hit the pump switch to extend the gear. When I have 3 lights I switch the pump off and land the plane.

Incidentally, I never extend my gear until on final. The gear legs and nose gear door on the Glass Goose are very large and act like drag brakes. I choose to get on around the pattern and then lower the gear. It usually bothers the controllers when I am on fairly short final with my gear still up, but I am the pilot so I do it my way.

I guess I can mention the obvious. The hydraulic pump draws a lot of current, so you don’t want it running unnecessarily for long periods of time. That would run the battery down and possibly heat up the hydraulic fluid in the process. But, since I have never found turning off the pump to be a particular challenge, I do not view these as points of concern, only facts to be aware of.

Early in my Seahawk/Glass Goose experience, I fell victim to what I will refer to as an "automatic" gear retract system. That circuit was one that was presented in the old Seahawk construction manual. It used very inadequate components, grossly under valued for the currents they were to carry and as a result, caused me a great deal of misery. On one occasion, one single component (of the many) in that system failed and I was stranded, on water, in a remote location, with gear that was neither up nor down, making it impossible to get back to civilization! It took 2 days of jury-rigging to get the gear up and figure out how I was then going to get it back down to land on the runway when I got home. Believe me, I learned the value of the "KISS" principle from that experience. "Keep It Simple Stupid"

It seems that this is the age of complexity. Everyone wants the fanciest and most

 complicated gadgets they can afford or borrow the money to buy. Walk into someone’s home and you’re likely to see wires running all over the place. They’ll be complaining about how the builder of the house didn’t put in enough plugs on the walls. The companies that make these multiple plugs to turn 2 plug wall outlets into 6 and 8 plugs are doing great business. You’ve just got to have 16 way seats in your car now, not to mention all the other "brag about" gadgets. Now the same thing is applying to airplanes! You get in the cockpit of a certified plane and you’re likely to spend 15 minutes just trying to get all the plumbing for the fancy dancy stereo - headset - CD - intercom - GPS circuitry that all has to be plugged into the poor little cigarette lighter. I heard about a crash in which all the occupants were killed.  They weren’t killed by the crash itself or by fire or any such horrible causes. They were all strangled by the wires of the accessories they had plugged up in the plane!!!

In this crazy race for the most, and the best, and the fanciest, common sense is frequently left laying in the dust. There actually are times when it is in our best interest for something to be as simple as possible. To forgo the bells and whistles. To take satisfaction and personal pride in intelligence and good judgment instead of wallowing in unnecessary complexities that are easily recognized as such by those that are truly knowledgeable and experienced.

So why this lecture?  Well, over the past couple of years, I have been constantly bombarded by builders that just can’t understand why the gear control arrangement on this, that or the other kind of plane won’t work on the Glass Goose!  The inquiries are ALWAYS based in more complexity and more weight, and more expense. The inquiries ALWAYS come from people that have NO personal flying experience in a Glass Goose and little or no seaplane experience at all. I try to explain and defend my simple system, but the resistance to it and the fanaticism to go with "what works on the Lancair (or Velocity or whatever)" is unbelievable. I get mental pictures of guys laying out their "pressure switches" and "sealed position switches" and "solenoids" on their kitchen table and standing 
GLASS GOOSE GAZETTE * ISSUE #18, April, 2001
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