Narrative:

I left with cloudy skies. The flight was flown at 20;000 ft; [and] above 7;000 ft the skies were clear. I used oxygen the entire flight until I descended below 8;000 ft near the completion of the flight. The flight was smooth and uneventful until the landing. ATIS stated skies with scattered clouds (can't remember height but airport was VFR) and wind was 190 at 12 KTS with gusts to 20 KTS. I was vectored for the visual approach at 3;000 ft. I loaded and activated the ILS in my GPS. I was vectored to the final approach and was asked by approach how high I could keep my speed up during the approach and I answered 145 KTS. I was then asked to keep my speed up until 4-5 miles out. I agreed and complied. I was cleared for the visual approach at about 6 miles out and proceeded to join the localizer. The flight and the approach were flown with the autopilot activated. I was then switched over to tower frequency and was cleared to land. The approach was uneventful and normal except for the increased air speed which was requested. I slowed the plane down about 3-4 miles out and started lowering flaps and landed unaware that I had forgotten to lower the landing gear until I heard metal scraping when I touched down. I did not hear the warning alarm which usually goes off if power is reduced under 15 inches manifold pressure when the gear is not extended. The plane then slid down the runway skidding to the right of the center line and came to rest on the runway. The landing was at approximately three hours after takeoff and I was not hurt.a contributing factor in my mind regarding this incident is that the approach was conducted out of normal sequence. I routinely lower the gear before starting the descent on an instrument approach at the final approach fix and on a visual approach I lower the gear before turning to final when being vectored. I cannot lower the gear in my plane above 140 KTS. Since I was requested to keep my airspeed at 145 KTS I delayed putting the gear down and unfortunately did not replay the normal landing sequence in my mind as I was slowing the plane down just prior to touchdown. I also suspect other contributing factors were the long flight; being by myself; and possibly the long period of relative hypoxia (SaO2 kept at 92% in flight); night time; and the fact that my gear horn malfunctioned. My concern is how do you train in a way that allows you to perform when you are at your worst mentally. You cannot always anticipate what your mental acuity will be when you arrive at your destination. I feel that all of the above listed components contributed to my incident. With hindsight being 20/20 my best judgment would say not to make that flight late in the afternoon; by myself; and at such a high altitude. How do you remember something that does not cross your mind? I really believe that this event would not have occurred if the approach was routine as I ran through my landing checklist in the usual manner but had to skip gear lowering due to the speed limitations for my airplane. I know now that I must train in a manner that adds another check much later in the landing sequence. I do perform gump checks on every landing and did so in this event. But still the undercarriage got missed.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C210 pilot reports landing gear up after a three hour flight at high altitude using oxygen. ATC had requested that 145 KTS be maintained for traffic which resulted in the gear not being lowered at the normal point and ultimately forgotten.

Narrative: I left with cloudy skies. The flight was flown at 20;000 FT; [and] above 7;000 FT the skies were clear. I used oxygen the entire flight until I descended below 8;000 FT near the completion of the flight. The flight was smooth and uneventful until the landing. ATIS stated skies with scattered clouds (can't remember height but airport was VFR) and wind was 190 at 12 KTS with gusts to 20 KTS. I was vectored for the visual approach at 3;000 FT. I loaded and activated the ILS in my GPS. I was vectored to the final approach and was asked by Approach how high I could keep my speed up during the approach and I answered 145 KTS. I was then asked to keep my speed up until 4-5 miles out. I agreed and complied. I was cleared for the visual approach at about 6 miles out and proceeded to join the localizer. The flight and the approach were flown with the autopilot activated. I was then switched over to Tower frequency and was cleared to land. The approach was uneventful and normal except for the increased air speed which was requested. I slowed the plane down about 3-4 miles out and started lowering flaps and landed unaware that I had forgotten to lower the landing gear until I heard metal scraping when I touched down. I did not hear the warning alarm which usually goes off if power is reduced under 15 inches manifold pressure when the gear is not extended. The plane then slid down the runway skidding to the right of the center line and came to rest on the runway. The landing was at approximately three hours after takeoff and I was not hurt.A contributing factor in my mind regarding this incident is that the approach was conducted out of normal sequence. I routinely lower the gear before starting the descent on an instrument approach at the final approach fix and on a visual approach I lower the gear before turning to final when being vectored. I cannot lower the gear in my plane above 140 KTS. Since I was requested to keep my airspeed at 145 KTS I delayed putting the gear down and unfortunately did not replay the normal landing sequence in my mind as I was slowing the plane down just prior to touchdown. I also suspect other contributing factors were the long flight; being by myself; and possibly the long period of relative hypoxia (SaO2 kept at 92% in flight); night time; and the fact that my gear horn malfunctioned. My concern is how do you train in a way that allows you to perform when you are at your worst mentally. You cannot always anticipate what your mental acuity will be when you arrive at your destination. I feel that all of the above listed components contributed to my incident. With hindsight being 20/20 my best judgment would say not to make that flight late in the afternoon; by myself; and at such a high altitude. How do you remember something that does not cross your mind? I really believe that this event would not have occurred if the approach was routine as I ran through my landing checklist in the usual manner but had to skip gear lowering due to the speed limitations for my airplane. I know now that I must train in a manner that adds another check much later in the landing sequence. I do perform GUMP checks on every landing and did so in this event. But still the undercarriage got missed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.