On 05 Dec 2003 15:01:40 GMT, (SteveM8597) wrote:


Really depends on the type of aircraft. That flat belly on the Tornado makes
it a natural for a safe belly landing with minimum fuel onboard. Don't
believe anyone would try that on an F-16, the bird would almost certainly
roll over.

Not necessarily. The pilot still has some control authority down to 100 kts or
less. I was involved in the repair of an A-7 that haqs landed gear up several
years back and likewise witnessed the bellyt lanfing of an A-6. Bot landed
safely and were returned to flight after some major sheetmetal work.

The F-4 would land gear up with external tanks mounted. Jack the plane, drop
the gear and tanks, and go fly again.

Steve

On the TA-4 we used to refer to the tanks as the "aux landing gear".

Al Minyard