From the BBC website:
Apparently the landing gear malfunctioned and the RAF pilot, who had only eight hours’ flying time on that aircraft, set it down with the wheels up anyway and walked away unscathed.
Amazing.
Especially considering that it stayed on the runway and took a mile to stop.
Here’s the part I don’t get:
By “leaving the aircraft,” I take it they mean ejecting. How do you eject during a belly landing?
Same way you punch out any other time: pull the handle and pray to the deity of your choice for about half a second, at which point the rocket you’re sitting on ignites and thoughts tend more towards “Aaaaaaaaaah!”
Serious answer: The Tornado has the Martin-Baker Mk.10, which is a “zero/zero” ejection seat, meaning it works at zero altitude and/or zero airspeed, as long as it’s pointed upward. (Most modern ejection seats can right themselves if you eject while the plane is upside-down, but that takes a good bit of altitude, obviously)
He might have a mere 8 hours flying time in that type of aircraft, but he will have very many more in others, particularly trainers such as the Hawk.
Still, well done to the guy.
I’d also like to point out that a belly landing is standard procedure in a retractable gear airplane with malfunctioning landing gear. This isn’t the first-time-ever successful gear-up landing. It’s a sceanrio you start thinking about and preparing for as soon as you start training in retractable gear aircraft. Even if he only had 8 hours in the Tornado I’d expect he’d have plenty of other experience in other aircraft.
Which in no way dimishes the feat - they’re moving fast and it’s very important to bring the plane down with absolutley level wings. Keeping a cool head is vital. All in all, a job very well done.
I was wondering, is there a parachute involved? And does it have enough time to deploy in a belly landing?
A parachute takes a minimum 300 vertical feet to open, depending on how it’s packed. Zero/zero ejection seats will propel the occupant about 500 feet before burnout.
Interesting tidbit: the F-18 ejection seats blow right through the closed canopy.
Another interesting tidbit about ejection seats:
The early F-104 Starfighters had ejection seats that fired DOWNWARDS.
A former Air Force crew chief I know was witness to a few grisly accidents. In some dicey situations (such as belly landings, or flameouts on takeoff) the pilots forgot that this seat didn’t go up. Several ejected straight down into the pavement with the results one might expect.
They later modifed the 104 to take an upward firing seat.
:eek:
Deep inside, I know there’s nothing funny about that.
But still …
But the F-104 had spurs, and were very happy to brag about them.
actually they were not spurs, but attachments for the ejection seat
In any case, I just can´t wrap my mind about what was thinking/drinking/smoking the engineer who thought about downward ejection seats. (The F-104 was not the only plane with those)
I just keep thinking that some guy is going to point out to him "dude, you were pressing the wrong button in regards to the landing gear. And this will swing from great accomplishment to heralded goof in a heartbeat.
I´ve known about cases of pilots retracting the landing gear while on the ground… it doesn´t look good in the CV.