Originally Posted by
vagabond
My office is about 10 miles south of SeaTac airport. When I go outside and look up, I see planes coming in to land. Lots of them. They are right on top of me to the point where I sometimes cannot tell which airline because all I see is the belly.
The other day, a CAL 737 was coming in and I noticed it did not have its landing gear down. I thought it was getting mighty close, but sure that it will come down in due course. Today, the daily BA 747 was arriving from London. I know that because it turned a little bit and I could see its tail. I noticed that it had all its wheels down. Hmmm.
When are the wheels supposed to come down? Why the difference with these two? Could it be ... no, it can't be.
Vagabond,
There's no "standard" or requirement. The vast majority of airline pilots, though, typically put the gear down at or shortly before the outer marker, which typically is about 5 miles from the landing threshold. I've flown everything from DC-9's to MD-11's, and we do them all the same. Of course, if you are high/fast, you might put them down sooner to help you slow down.
Pine