"Walt BJ" wrote

I witnessed a KC135 make a 'low pass' at Homestead AFB around 1965. We
were on 5 minute alert and sitting outside enjoying decent weather and
idly watching the tanker come in lower and lower. It got down to about
10 feet between the runway and the engine pods when the IP realized -
oops - no gear! One of us had already run to the radio but he wouldn't
have got the word to the crew quick enough. SAC dodged a bullet that
day.

It's pretty noisy in a 707/135 with the nose gear down, so I can't understand
missing that step in the check-list and not having maximum feedback that things
are really screwed-up and getting silently worse :-)