RAAF F111

[PPRuNeUser0212]

Well done to the young fella who got his aircraft home after losing a main wheel on take off. 22 years old and doing a wheels up arrested landing of a Pig and both members walking away. NICE :ok:

[PLE Always]

Nice job,

Good footage on the ABC site: http://www.abc.gov.au/vod/news/

Sorry no direct hyperlink available you'll need to select the article. It'll probable only be viewable for 24 hours or so.

PLE

[johno617tonka]

the second of the two video clips (the non news programme one!) really shows what a fantastic job the crew did in getting the aircraft back down safely..... :ok:
WELL DONE CHAPS!!!!
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Magoodotcom]

Dumb ar$ed mejya...of which I am often ashamed to say I am one!

"...latest in a string of incidents involving the aircraft in recent years..." Bollocks!!! We lost one in 1999, and before that in 1991ish. Following a fuel tank fire (the aircraft recovered) and some fleet-wide wing fatigue issues in 2001, the aircraft has enjoyed superb availability in recent years.

"...there are no plans to fast-track replacements...". The fleet is due to be withdrawn in the 2010-2012 timeframe, a 2004 amendment to the original 2015-2020 plan.

Geesh :ugh:

Magoo

[FormerFlake]

Impressive landing.

Still it would never happened if they had bought the TSR2. Firstly as it was a far better ac. Secondly, you were lucky to get the undercarriage up, not down!!

[RJM]

Minister of Defence Brandan Nelson said tonight that his dept was ready to extend the F111's timeframe beyond 2012.

The Aust ABC website now says that the pilot was 29 and the navigator 26.

Nice landing.

[spekesoftly]

The Aust ABC website now says that the pilot was 29 .......

Landing a F111 minus a main wheel would probably age most pilots! ;)

[Point0Five]

News.com.au is reporting that:
Air Marshal Shepherd said the pilot of the fighter was one of the most junior with the F-111s, having graduated from the basic conversion course a fortnight ago. :ooh: :D :ok: :D :ok: :D
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19829118-421,00.html

[Basil]

Sydney Morning Herald says they dumped in Moreton Bay.
Paraffin flavoured Moreton Bay Bugs then?
The RAAF must take more care of Oz culinary delights! ;)

Very well done; crew last seen exiting stage left for a well deserved tinny or three.

[The Helpful Stacker]

Sydney Morning Herald says they dumped in Moreton Bay.
Paraffin flavoured Moreton Bay Bugs then?
The RAAF must take more care of Oz culinary delights! ;)
Very well done; crew last seen exiting stage left for a well deserved tinny or three.

Kerosene, Avtur FSII or Jet A1 but never paraffin!!:=

[allan907]

Professionalism. Impressed!

[Chimbu chuckles]

Some excellent footage here on D&G.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=235200

Very well done indeed:D

[jindabyne]

Genuine question. Why was the hook down?

[Rollingthunder]

Runway arrestor wires.

[groper]

Runway arrestor wires.
Yes, but why use the wire? The pig seemed to really "flop" heavily onto the runway rather than "slide". Looked like it broke its back when it crunched on. I would have thought that the approach speed would have been reasonably low and would have allowed a gutser onto foam with a departure end arrest as a backup. Plenty of room given that the runway is some 10,000ft long.

[Rollingthunder]

Apparently they ran the scenario several times in the sim while the aircraft was burning off fuel and decided that was the way to go.

[Rocket Chucker]

Nice one cobber! :D

I think we'll let5 you have the ashes back for that one :{

[Ex Douglas Driver]

Yes, but why use the wire? The pig seemed to really "flop" heavily onto the runway rather than "slide". Looked like it broke its back when it crunched on. I would have thought that the approach speed would have been reasonably low and would have allowed a gutser onto foam with a departure end arrest as a backup. Plenty of room given that the runway is some 10,000ft long.

Have a look at the angle of the tip of the hook relative to the hook shaft next time you're at an airshow. You wouldn't be able to catch the cable with the hook being deployed when on your belly (the shaft being close to parallel to the runway meaning the hook won't engage).

Not withstanding, the cable probably wouldn't hold up structurally with an aircraft grinding over the top of it.

[groper]

Mmmmm, maybe I wasn't clear enough. My question was why take the cable at all? i.e. why not land beyond it onto foam? The jet would've probably stopped in about 3000(ish)ft.

Doesn't matter anyway, it worked and the crew survived, well done to all.

[Arm out the window]

Groper, although I admit I'm relatively uninformed, being from the low speed end of the spectrum, I'm thinking that a 150 kt or so uncontrolled no-brakes slide would be very bad compared to the quick controlled halt provided by the arrestor gear...imagine the fires, not to mention the rolling up in a ball, that could have happened if they'd gone with the big slide down the runway.
Good on you, fellas.

[John Eacott]

And I'll bet that he automatically had his toes firmly on the brakes, regardless :ok:

Another photo, from the Melbourne Herald-Sun:

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5190159,00.jpg

[TruBlu351]

No, it was the "park brake"! Sorry, couldn't help that one!.....those who know what I'm talking about may have a chuckle :ok:

The manoeuvre they flew is what's called a "fly-in arrestment". ie: the hook engages the cable before the wheels (or aircraft) touch the ground. This technique is used when you have a gear stub and no wheel or no gear in this case. Landing with a gear stub only (no wheel etc) will cause a RAPID runway departure on touchdown and no gear as mentioned would trash the cable as you slide over it.

The extra thump onto the deck from a fly-in arrestment would be better than sliding down the runway and possibly spinning around & departing the runway. Plus, less sliding = less heat/friction/airframe ripping to bits & possibility of fireball etc.

Oh, and it was a BRAND NEW runway surface too!! Only weeks old. Those contractors will be loving the extra work!

[antipodean alligator]

Groper,

No Foam available, so it wasn't an option...Pretty sure that it is banned for tree-hugging reasons

[jindabyne]

Look, no hook

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c192/jindabyne/wheels2.jpg

[Fox3snapshot]

Was a young fellah at Amberley when the Singaporean Hunter did a belly up on its drops....another specky and well handled arrival.

The F111 footage made all the news services and cable networks over here in the sandpit, Sky UK was running it quite regularly. Reasonable reporting too which makes a change.

I know the Bak 12/14 cable system is a permanent fixture each end, the media reported it taking a second wire not the first (one issue I was a little skeptical about), was the portable rig set up too as a back up...sorry geek question! :8

Bl**dy well done though!

[eagle 86]

Many years ago, when the RAN FAA was real and had A4's, after a mid-air which left one dead and one without a serviceable u/c it became SOP to fly with large, empty jugs when conducting missions such as DLP so that a belly landing could be carried out sans u/c.
At least four such landings were successfully achieved.
-u/c u/s from mid-air
-u/c u/s hit rounddown night dlp
-deployed/lost u/c during highspeed pullout from bomb pass
-lost mainwheel during dlp
GAGS
E86

[maxeemum]

Ah yes. The fleet air arm, fleet air hand, fleet air finger, fleet air fingernail.

NAS Nowra is not what it used to be. Twas a time when a stop over in the mess was worth getting out your cheque book and fronting the base commander in the morning with your hat on. These days, just another way point in the GPS/INS.

Lots of problems. However off the thread. Well done to the PIG crew. RWY 15 at AMB will have a displaced threshold now for sure. Watch out for the X X X 's on the first third!

Max

:ok:

[Samuel]

There has never been an example of foaming a runway being in any way beneficial other than giving a slight psychological boost.Besides, it is almost impossible to provide a foam path with your standard crash/fire vehicle [Master diversion airfields like Marham had huge tankers towed by tractors years ago] because they have to be capable of producing foam on the move; not all vehicles can do that, and those that can are designed to do it while changing position, not for long periods. Another besides; without special foam laying vehicles, it would take so long to lay a foam path that the beginning would have deteriorated before you got to the end, and that particularly applies using the 'new' type of foam. Meanwhile the aircraft waiting to use it may not have the fuel the F111 had, so all in all, the idea of foam paths went out years ago as being largely impracticable. Great effort by the pilot!:D :ok:

[jindabyne]

Sam

There has never been an example of foaming a runway being in any way beneficial other than giving a slight psychological boost

Beg to differ with your 'never' bit. The carpet of foam laid for the w/u landing shown in my last post was very effective in suppressing fire under the fuse and within the uwts - as well as giving a psych boost!

[Samuel]

Ah, but you don't know that, which is the point the National Fire Protection Association of America made when it examined known incidents a few years ago. :=

There have in fact been very few and all that can be surmised is foam didn't do any harm, but conversely couldn't be shown to be of any use. However, it's academic now because laying foam is almost impossible without purpose-built equipment.

[jindabyne]

Sam

Ah but I do - I was inside it!

[Samuel]

Sorry mate, but for every incident like yours, there have been others where the end result was the same! That includes the ex-SAF FGA9 in NZ which was virtually undamaged after a wheels-up.

You weren't one of that excellent group of ex-pats traing the Singapore Air Force and who frequented the bar at the Changi Mess were you?:ok: :D

Have a look here:

http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2006/Jul/20060720.cfm

[antipodean alligator]

Mate,

Your skepticism is well founded. What they probably meant was that they missed on their first attempt. They snagged the one and only BAK 12/14 at that end of Amberfield as planned on their 2nd attempt:ok:

[Fox3snapshot]

Cheers mate, it all makes sense now appreciate it. ;)

[allan907]

Well at least they didn't do what a multi-national crew (German/Italian) at Cottesmore did on the mighty Tonka when it first came out. It is 'alleged' that they landed wheels up without realising then had to engage re-heat to taxy. Apparently they got a reasonable distance before the screams from Air Traffic got through to them.

Anybody got first hand knowledge of this one??

[helopat]

Any idea why they decided to land vice taking the silk elevator? I know thats a lot of aircraft suspended under the parachute, but if they had caught a wingtip as they touched down wouldn't the result have been disastrous?

In any case, nice one...contrary to the first post, I believe that they ran away as opposed to walking away (exit stage left indeed)

[Fox3snapshot]

The navigator who was in the ejection at Ohakea in New Zealand when they ingested water on take off was the reviewing officer at my graduation at Sale.

In his speach at the graduation dining in he described the landing in the capsule to that of sitting in a wooden rocking chair and jumping off the roof of a one story building....so from that I guess it was worth the risk trying for the wire! ;)

[L J R]

Big Al must have mellowed in his old age. Back in 1981, he told me that it was like being thrown out of a 30 storey building!


Nice running Warners!

[Swingwing]

Yeah I noticed that too - Warner legs it into the distance about 2 seconds after the jet comes to rest - while the poor bograt is left to fend for himself! :} (Being brand new and conscientious he was probably running through the after landing checks! Would be embarrassing to survive and then catch your foot in the ejection handle during the emergency egress??
Whatever happened to navs helping out their pilots anyway? Always been a bloody militant union.....:ok:
SW

[The_Cutest_of_Borg]

Didn't they "accidentally" belly land an F4 at Amberley back in the 70's?

I bet no-one was congratulating the pilot for that one!;)

[eagle 86]

Yes - also a Mirage at Essendon.
GAGS
E86

[henry crun]

I don't know what all the fuss is about.

I assume that the result of a deliberate or unintentional wheels up is much the same, in the latter case there is a lot more noise and the deceleration is more marked. ;)

[reacher]

Followed by and even louder:mad: :mad: