Cessna 210 Nearly Landed with the wheels up

ONTARIO, Calif.—Quick action by an airline pilot and traffic controllers last week kept a single-engine plane from landing at Ontario International Airport with its wheels up, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The Cessna 210 Centurion was about a mile from the runway on Sept. 4 when a Southwest Airlines pilot spotted the problem and advised a ground controller who quickly relayed it to a controller handling arriving aircraft, the controllers involved in the incident said.

In an audio recording released Wednesday, Bruce Bradigan, the controller handling arriving aircraft warned the pilot of the Cessna that his landing gear was not extended. The pilot immediately canceled his approach and went around for another landing.

"My heart was pounding because he was at least 20 to 30 feet off the ground," ground controller Carlos Rodriguez recalled. The pilot could have been seriously injured in a crash or belly landing, he said. "The collaboration of an airline pilot and two air traffic controllers averted potential disaster," FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The Cessna was registered to Bill Otto, who commutes by plane from his home in Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains to his aircraft repair business near the airport.

"For a lot of people, when they do the same thing day in and day out, sometimes they forget," Otto said. "Unfortunately for me, I forgot to get the gear down. Fortunately, the Southwest pilot saw it,

called the tower, the tower reminded me and I put the gear down. It's very embarrassing."
Otto said he got his pilot license in 1972 and flies frequently.

"I was very grateful that the tower and the airline and everyone worked together to remind me of my forgetfulness," he said. The airport is about 35 miles east of Los Angeles.