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If you fly amphibious seaplanes, you know what the outcome would be if trying to make a water landing with your landing gear in the down position. Becoming distracted while heading for a water landing could be potentially disastrous. We are all human, even the simplist of aircrafts can become demanding at critical phases of operation. You might laugh to yourself and say, "That would never happen to me." But are you really that sure? Myself - I know I'm human and therefore if there's something I can use to help me be more safe I'm going to use it. This is why I've been working so hard on this gear warning system. If at the same time it helps others, then, that makes me feel even better. They say, necessity is the mother of all invention so here is my invention.


I have been the owner of several aircraft over the years. In 1996 I purchased an experimental amphibious aircraft kit plane called a SeaRey. The kit designer is Progressive Aerodyne out of Orlando, Florida. The SeaRey is one of the most popular amphibious kit planes being produced today, with over 400 flying around the world.		Amphibious aircraft are special in that we can enjoy the option of landing and departing from both land-based runways and water-based runways. In order to do this, the amphibious aircraft needs some type of landing gear that is retractable. In most cases, these are wheels that fold up or retract to allow the plane to land on water.

If the pilot was to overlook the fact that his wheels were in the down position and tried to make a water landing, in most cases the plane would flip upside down and could possibly drown your passenger and yourself. So far, the SeaRey owners have been lucky and no one has been seriously injured or killed.

I came up with a landing gear position warning system that is activated with the extension of the aircraft's wing flaps. When landing or departing, the pilot uses the wing flaps of his/her aircraft as needed, so the extension of flaps is a normal part of the landing and the departure procedure and is seldom overlooked by the pilot. This is why linking a gear warning system such as the "GearUp" gear position warning system to the extension of the aircraft's wing flaps makes perfect sense. The "GearUp" warning system consists of an annunciator panel that is mounted on the aircraft's instrument panel in the pilot's normal line-of-sight while flying. The annunciator panel has two very bright LED lights that when activated, pulse, off and on very rapidly. From the pilot's view the rapid pulsing of the system's two highly visible LED lights is all but impossible to ignore, so much so, that after the pilot has been reminded to check the position of his/her landing gear they may want to pause the highly visible warning system. For this reason, I have incorporated a circuit that when activated, with the use of the pause button located on the annunciator panel of the "GearUp" warning system, it will pause the pulsing LED lights for a one or two minute period of time. I considered incorporating some type of vocal or sound annunciation into my gear warning system but found that it was to complicated and costly. I believe my visual light system will do a better job for a lot less money.

GearUp Annunciator Panel with RS-232C Cable.

Any type of 12VDC miniature or micro switch can be used to activate the GearUp system.

The time period that you wish the LED lights to be paused for can be selected with the use of a toggle switch mounted on the annunciator panel. As long as the flaps remain in the extended position the "GearUp" warning system is still active and is still working for you to remind you again at the end of the selected time period to check you landing gear position. The other components of the "GearUp" warning system consist of the IC control board that is housed in a small box that can be mounted in a convenient location behind the aircraft's instrument panel. The IC control unit has a RS232C connector and shielded cable that connects the annunciator panel to the IC control unit of the "GearUp" warning system. The other component is the mini-switch that is mounted behind the flap control horn and wired to the aircraft's electrical system through a protective electrical circuit breaker. I have had this latest version of my "GearUp" warning system installed in my SeaRey for sometime now and find it comforting to know that I have a back-up to help remind me to check my landing gear position before landing at my favorite watering hole. With our safety in mind I offer the "GearUp" landing gear warning system to you.

IC Computer Control Unit is sealed and has a lifetime warranty. Just return it and get a new one.

The annunciator face plate has sticky tape on it's back side or could be held in place with screws.

For a more custom look the LEDs and two switches can be removed from the face plate and mounted in your instrument panel