FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - How far out from landing does the gear come down?
Old Dec 3, 2019, 9:07 pm
  #15  
Awatson
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 1
Minute and a half to 3 minutes

I’m not a pilot but fly fairly regularly. Mostly to the same two airports but also about half a dozen other airports per year.

As a thing to do to pass time I started timing flight phases about 5 years ago. Specifically I time from brakes off (or engine rev up if the aircraft rolls directly to takeoff) to wheels off ground, overall flight time, landing gear down to touchdown then touchdown to brakes off (or as near as I can estimate that braking has stopped and roll out to the off ramp has commenced).

I travel mostly on Q400s 737 and A320s. The timing doesn’t seem to change much, the smaller aircraft lean towards lower times but it is not a rule based on my experience.

The landing gear, very predictably goes down on most flights between 1 1/2 and three minutes to touchdown, mostly leaning toward 3 mins. Naturally there are occasions where it is more or less but if you are flying and the gear comes out, you are very probably within 3 mins of landing. The airport, weather and flight pattern would influence when the gear comes out but i don’t recall timing anything over 6 mins. I don’t think I ever timed a landing with less than one minute between gear down and touchdown but I’m sure they happen.
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