Modern retractable gear aircraft are equiped with a GPWS, or Ground Proximity Warning System. An alarm sounds in the cockpit or headset when the aircraft gets too close to the ground with the landing gear in the up position. An old flying friend of mine flew in here the other day on his way up to Virginia and I met him at the Gainesville airport for lunch. He told me that two weeks before, he had accidentally landed his Piper Navaho with the gear up. I was surprised to hear that because of the GPWS and I asked him why it didn't work to prevent his accident. He smiled and said, "oh it worked fine and the dam thing buzzed and irritated the hell out of me all the way down to ground contact!!!"
Some people only learn after acquiring a sufficient amount of scar tissue.
