View Full Version : Some Nice footage of the 'PIG' the Amberly wheels up incident
Fliegenmong
10th Jan 2013, 11:22
And My Oh My what a marvellous Mo you have Mr Jones!!!
F-111 Belly Landing! | Military.com (http://www.military.com/video/military-aircraft-operations/landing/f-111-belly-landing/1814867838001/)
Do miss 'em Pigs!
Courtney Mil
10th Jan 2013, 11:56
Good job!!
dead_pan
10th Jan 2013, 13:07
Blimey it made one helluva thump when it hit the runway.
I bet the boys blew the foam off a few tinnies that evening.
Great job but I did notice the navigator was fastest out of the starting blocks!!:ok:
chiglet
10th Jan 2013, 20:24
Downloaded that in July....from Pprune ;)
H Peacock
10th Jan 2013, 21:09
Guess there was a good reason to use the hook/cable, but it certainly caused the big pitch down onto the runway!
airpolice
10th Jan 2013, 21:19
The use of the approach end cable prevents the very real danger of it sliding sideways, digging in a wingtip and flipping over.
Good job and yes, someone was out pretty sharpish - but not as fast as I'd be.
Why didn't they dump the fuel?
Also, and I get it that you try and bring the jet home if you can, but if the jet was at the end of its service life anyway and if the pilot was about as inexperienced as you could get (but pretty damned good it seems), why was it decided to to 'rule out' ejecting?
Old Fella
12th Jan 2013, 00:34
Mate, the aircraft landed with approximately 3000 litres of fuel remaining. Total internal fuel load for the aircraft is about 19000 litres. Given that the crew orbited overhead Amberley until they had determined that a "wheels up" approach and landing with the hook to be engaged would be the preferred option I guess they would not have had any thought of dumping fuel and reducing their options. In any event, the dump system would have a minimum level to which dumping would be possible and it would, given the fuel burn at low level with full A/B for a missed approach, at 3000 litres would be getting down to "pucker factor" fuel remaining figure I think.
The F111 still had some time to run in RAAF service and the repairs to the aircraft would have cost much less than a replacement. As you said Al R, the young pilot may have been inexperienced on type, but obviously well trained and guided by his peers doing their bit with advice during the event.
AGS Man
12th Jan 2013, 06:31
Great bit of flying to get the jet home but... The F111 was always marginal on a lot of Arresting Systems so an in flight engagement was very risky. If the pendant had snapped the result would probably have been a cartwheeling fireball! Having said that the manufacturer uses this film in it's sales video so they are quite proud of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w0olVhjP-c