THE ATX PLT OF A PA60 LANDED GEAR UP. HE WAS CONCENTRATING ON MAKING A STEEP APCH TO A SHORT RWY SURROUNDED BY HILLS AND FORGOT TO LOWER HIS GEAR.

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IN APR/98 DURING A REPOSITIONING FLT ORIGINATING AT OXC; CT; ENRTE TO 4V8; VT (MOUNT SNOW); IN A PA60 AEROSTAR; I (THE PIC AND SOLE OCCUPANT) GEAR UP LANDED AT 4V8. 4V8 IS A SMALL; RELATIVELY LOW TFC VOLUME; UNCTLED ARPT LOCATED ON A HILL (1953 FT ELEVATION) AND SURROUNDED WITH YET EVEN TALLER HILLS. FOR A PIPER AEROSTAR THE RWY LENGTH OF 2650 FT IS SHORT; BUT ADEQUATE. I KNEW A CAREFUL APCH MUST BE MADE CONSIDERING THE TERRAIN; RWY LENGTH AND THE TREES AT THE BEGINNING OF RWY 1. AS I CONTINUED AT 3-4 NM OUT I NOT ONLY HAD THE FIELD IN SIGHT; BUT WAS ABLE TO SEE THAT THE RWY WAS IN FACT CLR SO I DECIDED TO PROCEED STRAIGHT-IN TO RWY 1 FOR A LNDG. I HAD ALREADY STARTED TO SLOW AND HAD 20 DEGS OF FLAPS; BUT I WAS AT 4000 FT AND HAD TO LOSE SOME ALT AS WELL AS CORRECT TO THE R TO ALIGN THE ACFT WITH THE RWY CTRLINE. IN THE PROCESS OF DOING THIS I KNEW I NEEDED TO DO THIS FAIRLY QUICK SO I SELECTED FLAPS TO 30 DEGS. EVEN THIS DIDN'T SEEM TO BE ENOUGH SO I WENT TO FULL FLAPS EVEN THOUGH I WAS FURTHER OUT THAN WHEN I WOULD NORMALLY ADD FULL FLAPS. I REMEMBER LOOKING DOWN OUT THE PLT SIDE WINDOW NOTICING THE TERRAIN RISING UP TO MEET THE ARPT AND ALSO NOTICED OUT THE FRONT WINDOW THE TREES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE RWY. I KNEW I WOULD HAVE TO JUST CLR THE TREES TO TOUCH DOWN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE RWY AND I STABILIZED AT WHAT SEEMED TO BE A NORMAL APCH PATH AND ADDED PWR TO MAINTAIN AIRSPD. AS I CLRED THE TREES I MAINTAINED MOST OF MY PWR BECAUSE I WAS ALREADY SLOW ENOUGH AND THE DSCNT LOOKED GOOD ENOUGH FOR A TOUCHDOWN CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE RWY TO BE SAFE. JUST BEFORE TOUCHDOWN I REDUCED THE PWR AND THE GEAR WARNING HORN WENT OFF; BUT BY THEN IT WAS ALREADY TOO LATE. I HAD TOUCHED DOWN AND STARTED TO SLIDE DOWN THE RWY ON THE ACFT'S BELLY. I LOWERED THE GEAR HANDLE AS A REFLEX RESPONSE EVEN THOUGH I KNEW IT WOULD DO NOTHING. THE ACFT SLID FOR APPROX 1500 FT AND CAME TO A STOP. I SHUT EVERYTHING DOWN AND EXITED. AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION I FEEL THAT ASIDE FROM THE OBVIOUS FACT THAT IT IS THE PLT'S JOB TO LOWER THE LNDG GEAR AND DO ADMIT TO HAVING MAKING THAT ERROR; I DO FEEL THAT IS ONLY PART OF THE EXPLANATION. CONSIDERING THE TERRAIN; RWY LENGTH; OBSTACLES AND CHANGE OF INITIAL PLAN; THIS WAS ENOUGH TO KEEP ME FOCUSED OUTSIDE THE ACFT. ALSO; LOWERING FULL FLAPS EARLY IN THE APCH MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE MINDSET THAT THE LNDG GEAR WAS DOWN. MOST ACFT HAVE GEAR WARNING SYS AND THE AEROSTAR IS NO EXCEPTION. I THINK THE GEAR WARNING SYS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A MORE FOOLPROOF SYS. IN THIS SIT THE WARNING SYS DIDN'T SERVE ITS PURPOSE. MANY ACFT NOT ONLY HAVE GEAR WARNING SYS INCORPORATED WITH THE THROTTLES BUT WITH THE FLAPS AS WELL. I FEEL THIS IS A SYS NEEDED ON THE AEROSTAR AND SIMILAR ACFT DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF PWR OFTEN USED FOR LNDGS; ESPECIALLY FOR SHORT FIELD LNDGS.