GUMPS

GUMPS is a widely used acronym used by airplane pilots as a mental before-landing checklist to ensure nothing critical has been forgotten before landing. Its popularity is widespread, appearing in flight student curriculum, FAA publications, aviation magazines. Mental reference (whether thought or spoken out loud) to the GUMPS acronym is frequently referred to as a "GUMPS check".

GUMPS stands for "gas, undercarriage, mixture, prop, switches". Alternatively, the S sometimes stands for "seat belts". Although the specific operations represented vary from airplane to airplane, they are generally as follows:
*Gas: Is the fuel boost pump on (if necessary)? Am I drawing fuel from the fullest tank (if more than one tank present)?
*Undercarriage: (applies to retractable-gear aircraft) Is my landing gear down? Are all the lights on, confirming each wheel has locked in place?
*Mixture: (applies to aircraft with a mixture control) Is my mixture setting appropriate for a takeoff, so that the landing may be aborted if necessary?
*Propeller: (applies to aircraft with a controllable-pitch propeller) Is the propeller pitch set to the flattest pitch, allowing for the highest possible engine RPM as appropriate for takeoff, so the landing may be aborted if necessary?
*Switches: Are electrical items (such as landing lights, etc.) set appropriately for the landing?and/or
*Seat belts: Are everyone's seat belts secure and tight?

The purpose of the GUMPS acronym is to train pilots to remember critical steps required to land a complex airplane while they learn to fly a simple one. Students are usually taught to speak the word GUMPS out loud during the landing sequence, as an aid in reinforcing the habit.

As an example, nearly all flight students learn to fly in a training airplane with a fixed (non-retractable) landing gear, where lowering the "undercarriage" is unnecessary and the step is essentially skipped. In real-world practice, distraction and preoccupation during the landing sequence play a vital role in the approximately 100 gear-up landing incidents that occurred each year in the United States between 1998 and 2003 [http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/callback_issues/cb_292.htm] . In consideration of this, the "undercarriage" portion of GUMPS is still recited even when flying a fixed-gear plane, so that when the student transitions to an airplane that has a retractable gear, he or she is already habituated to remembering the landing gear and knowing the sequence in which it should be extended. Rather than deploying the undercarriage, pilots of fixed gear aircraft are encouraged to confirm that the toe brakes have hydraulic pressure by pressing the brakes and assessing the level of resistance. The other items on the GUMPS list may be similarly absent or only partially present on a training airplane, but are items that the student will eventually encounter throughout an aviation career.

Airplanes with Carburetors

A deviation of GUMPS is used for older airplanes with carbureted engines. That deviation is called C-GUMPS, or Charlie GUMPS, and the extra C is a reminder to open the carburetor heat valve before landing.

Criticism

The use of the GUMPS checklist is frequently criticized on the basis that a mental checklist is prone to dangerous distraction more so than a printed checklist. Critics of GUMPS argue that people should always use printed checklists and never rely on fallible memory for remembering steps so critical that the consequence of forgetting them is an aviation accident.

See also

*BUMPH

References

* FAA Safety Program, [http://www.faasafety.gov/hottopics.aspx?id=30 Gear Up Landing - Not Me!]
* National Transportation Safety Board, [http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20020222X00247&key=1 Accident report, aircraft N9302N, no injuries] (report makes specific reference to GUMPS)
* King Schools, Poll, [http://www.kingschools.com/vote/voteResults.asp?q=34 Do you use a printed checklist or GUMPS in the pattern?]