Tornado - fast belly landing

362436 (Ron) wrote:



I rather like the F-106 that landed in snow intact after the ejection, and was
trucked out and flown again.

Ron

Must be damned hard on that pilot's sense of self-worth eh?...

--

-Gord.

" wrote:

362436 (Ron) wrote:



I rather like the F-106 that landed in snow intact after the ejection, and was
trucked out and flown again.

Ron

Must be damned hard on that pilot's sense of self-worth eh?...

--

-Gord.

Not really. It was in "an uncontrollable flat spin". The ejection itself allowed
a recovery by pushing down the nose, but at the cost of losing the carbon based
stick actuator.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/modern_flight/mf30.htm

Bob McKellar

"Hog Driver" wrote:


Additionally, should only the nose gear come down, it is a better option to
actually land with the gear fully retracted. I think there are other
non-desirable landing configurations, but I don't have the checklist in
front of me right now.


The Canadian C-119 (and probably others too) have a big hairy
warning in the dash one about 'never landing on the mains only'.
Apparently it's supposed to roll up into a little ball if you do.
Also it's forbidden to attempt a ditching...sure death they say.
I sure wouldn't argue with the manufacturer.
--

-Gord.

Bob McKellar wrote:



" wrote:

362436 (Ron) wrote:



I rather like the F-106 that landed in snow intact after the ejection, and was
trucked out and flown again.

Ron

Must be damned hard on that pilot's sense of self-worth eh?...

--

-Gord.

Not really. It was in "an uncontrollable flat spin". The ejection itself allowed
a recovery by pushing down the nose, but at the cost of losing the carbon based
stick actuator.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/modern_flight/mf30.htm

Bob McKellar

Ok
--

-Gord.

On or about Sat, 06 Dec 2003 02:33:10 GMT, "Gord Beaman"
) allegedly uttered:

(Ron) wrote:



I rather like the F-106 that landed in snow intact after the ejection, and was
trucked out and flown again.

Ron

Must be damned hard on that pilot's sense of self-worth eh?...


The pilot can't land it, so the plane does the landing for him? Talk
about being scared to go into the O Club!

---
Peter Kemp

Life is short - Drink Faster

I remember thinking the same thing climbing into an A4. I stuck my legs down
those tunnels and said to myself, "I don't give a **** WHAT the f**c
McDonnell Douglas says, if I have to get out of this GD thing, my legs are
staying down there for sure!!!"
:-)))
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired

I thought the same thing when I flew the T-33. I remember being told that if I
have to eject, pull my feet back until they hit these little stops on the floor
and that should provide enough space to clear the panel. Before I pulled the
pins, I did just that and saw I had about an inch to an inch and a half of
space between where my knees would go and the panel.
I didn't care about the bad stuff I had heard about 1st generation ejection
seats, I just didn't want to lose my legs below the kneecaps!!


-John
*You are nothing until you have flown a Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman or North
American*

Ron wrote:

Must be a popular thing to do.

Another Mirage III, A3-36 lost the engine on final to RAAF Darwin in
1986. Pilot noticed the lack of noise and unfamiliar pattern of lights
on the panel, promptly stepped out and changed the aircraft's w&b.
The Mirage floated down to a comparitively soft landing in the mud flats
before the runway.


I saw the airframe 2 years later and the most damage was done by souvenir
hunters, who used axes, angle grinders and some sort of thermonuclear
device to remove bits - including the fin.


I rather like the F-106 that landed in snow intact after the ejection, and was
trucked out and flown again.

Ron
Pilot/Wildland Firefighter

A Sukhoi Su-27 of the Russian Knights aerobatic team landed on the runway at
Bratislava, Czechoslovkia, during an airshow, with his wheels up.

The pilot simply forgot to lower the u/c !!!

The a/c touched down on the two empty missile pylons fitted under the engine
trunks in a shower of sparks.

The red-faced pilot climbed out unhurt (except for his pride).

The a/c was jacked up, the wheels were lowered and it flew out a few days later.

The pilot went on to become the Russian Knights team leader !!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++
Ken Duffey - Flanker Freak & Russian Aviation Enthusiast
Flankers Website - http://www.flankers.co.uk/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++

Ken Duffey wrote:


A Sukhoi Su-27 of the Russian Knights aerobatic team landed on the runway at
Bratislava, Czechoslovkia, during an airshow, with his wheels up.

The pilot simply forgot to lower the u/c !!!

The a/c touched down on the two empty missile pylons fitted under the engine
trunks in a shower of sparks.

The red-faced pilot climbed out unhurt (except for his pride).



And Mary wouldn't call that 'pilot error', unlike everyone else
in the world of course.
--

-Gord.

"Ken Duffey" wrote in message
...
Dudley Henriques wrote:

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 05 Dec 2003 15:29:22 GMT, "Dudley Henriques"
wrote:


Add in that the landing speed, under optimal conditions will be in
the
140 mph or faster range (remember to convert knots to MPH.)

Now, go back and take that car into the boonies at that speed.

Survivable? I think I'll try out this new-fangled explosive seat
thingie....


I just listened to an interview with the RAF aircrew.

It seems they have zero zero seats so the plan was to try and put it
down
on the runway but punch out it it started to slew off onto the grass
They reported that the landing was actually quite straightforward
and the impact was gentle.

Just be advised that a planned wheels up in a high performance jet on a
prepared surface is one thing. A belly landing off in the boonies is
quite
another.
The crew in this case seems like they had a plan. I might have tried
this
one myself :-)
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt

The runway was also carpeted with foam.....


No foam on the runway at all for the landing - not available at most uk mil
airfields. Foam in the pictures is from post-landing dousing of the ac.

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