It's 2:30 in the afternoon and I just realized I didn't post.  I have such a rigid system of the order in which I do what I do every morning, that if I skip a step, I don't know it.  So why would I go back to check--because I know I must have done it.  But I didn't.  And I don't know why I didn't.  I just somehow skipped a step--which seems impossible to me.

It reminds me of a story Ken told me once about forgetting steps.  He said that every time you came in for a landing, you had a series of steps that you would go through.  The series was exact, and done in a certain order.  You always did it the same way.  A check list.  So that if you were on step five, you could be positive that steps one through four were already done.

But in combat, especially if you got hit, (which he did--over eight times) you had an entire set of other steps you were trying to integrate into your check list--did my fuel tank get hit, etc.  Needless to say, almost every pilot had an experience when they could barely control the circumstances they were dealing with.

So on a clear day, stateside, in good weather, with no adverse circumstances, forgetting to lower your wheels was not probable.  When the tower notified you that your wheels were up, you knew that the tower was wrong--because you had completed your landing check list which included lowering your wheels.  But it happened.  And it happened often enough to pilots who thought it would never happen to them, that everybody checked themselves over again on their landing list.

I failed to check myself today and landed wheels up.  I forgot to post.

Some pilots landed wheels up because they were so sure of themselves that they failed to believe the tower.  Bad choice.

So failing to post reminded me of that story Ken told a group of us one time.  However, my failure didn't cost anyone their life.