gear down speed: early vs. late skymasters

[gevmage]

Originally posted by Mark Hislop
When actually operating the gear (raising or lowering), the clam shell doors that house the main gear open up into the slip stream. They are very draggy, and a lot of load is imposed upon them. Therefore, the aircraft is limited to 160 mph when operating the gear, so as not to damage (or remove) the landing gear doors.

I do understand that. I read someplace (talking about engine-out operations) the landing gear extended cuts single-engine climb by 100 fpm, but having it stuck half-extended cuts it by 240fpm. The doors being open create a lot more drag, and therefore, structural stress on the doors.

Oops--I just realized that I reversed the two entries. The '66 manual says "Maximum Speed, Landing Gear Extended.....140 mph", and the '74 says "Maximum speed/Gear Extended....228 mph". The '74 entry is consistent with what you two were saying, that the max with gear down is the same as V(NE). Perhaps in the first round of certification, flight with gear down had only been tested at low speeds, it wasn't yet certified for that, but between '65 and '73, additional testing and certification was done?

You are also confusing the ceilings of the turbo models with the ceilings of the pressurized models. ...This is due to limitations in the amount of pressurization supplied.

Oh yeah; yes I was confused about that. I didn't think of the pressure differential issue.

I'm in Aurora, Il, not too terribly far from you. If you ever get up this way and want to go for a ride, let me know.

I might just take you up on that if you're serious. Please contact me privately via:
http://www.craigsteffen.net/contact/

Thanks for the replies.