I got this from one of our more experienced members, and thought it was worthy of a greater audience.
Bob Grimstead
SABC Safety
Bob,
Nice advice. Re your comment, "Whatever you do, the longer you stay up there thinking, the better chance of a good outcome." Here is an example of a pilot acting too quickly, not staying cool, and acting too quickly to solve the problem /distraction at hand:
Mooney 210 takeoff from Rwy 27 at Jandakot.
"Gear up", oops forgot to pull the circular plastic lever OUT before lifting it. Result I have the lever in my right hand. "xxxx".
Sticking out of the dash is one centimeter of metal with some thread on the top of it. I took out a Bic biro placed it over the metal bit, applied angle pressure and lifted. It worked - the gear came up.
I then flew around the training area for 30 minutes and repeated the action on downwind. I thought I was very clever. Hmmmm not so...
Glen Caple gave me a rocket, rightly so, and said it happens a lot with new endorsements on Mooneys. "Why did you not just leave the gear down and land?" he said.
Here is the classic example of what you were saying Bob. Now, 18 years later and with somewhat more air time, I hope I would be hearing your timely advice to fly around, seek help, stay calm and think it through.
Most importantly: FLY the PLANE