On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 18:27:22 -0600, "Don Harstad"
wrote:
I saw a Blue Angles F-4 do a gear-up landing at the airport in Cedar Rapids,
IA, about 1970 or so. He did the same thing...he rode it out until the
plane began to slew off the runway, and then he ejected. He made it look
pretty easy... and I also remember that the Blue Angles ground crew jumped
into a station wagon and beat the fire/rescue people to him.
Oh, one other factor was that he lit the afterburners when he realized that
his wheels were up, and gave himself quite a push down the runway.
Oh, no, and I though "It takes afterburner to taxi" was the punchline
to an old joke.
I might have a slide of this, before the ejection. It's pretty ratty,
but it's definitely a Blue Angels F-4 sliding down the runway, with a
lot of flame.
Mary
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer