The only mishaps I witnessed were at RNZAF Woodbourne c 1986, when on the first occasion I was the Orderly Officer when a SafeAir Argosy had undercarriage problems and after attempting the free the landing gear, it did a graceful approach (well, as much as an Argosy could) and executed belly landing on the grass strip. The Capt was a very well-known pilot, Bob Guard who was famously invovled in the Kaikoura UFO incidents in late 1978/early 1979. Nothing for me to do apart from taking some pictures for my album. Now where are those pics...?
A little later in the year we had an Airshow and there was a parachuting display. One of the 'chutes candled and there was an audible gasp across the crowd as the chute descended and then impacted. Fortunately, the jumper managed to cut away and descend on his reserve, as part of a group display, so it wasn't immediately apparent to onlookers that the chute was free (it was over the other side of the airfield). It was, for me as a 24 year old Fg Off, the first really stomach-churning moment of my life.
Last edited by Whenurhappy; 5th Dec 2012 at 12:12.