USAF C-17 Gear Up Emergency Landing Kandahar

[RAFEngO74to09]

Well done - damage minimal - should buff out nicely !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuTbZyBe3CM

[Fareastdriver]

It was the nosewheels. Jack it on to a trolley, line it up on the runway and let somebody else sort it out.

[Tankertrashnav]

Impressive. I've been in lots of worse landings when all wheels were present - quite of few of said landings being my own!

[ancientaviator62]

Very well done. Did I notice the para doors (at least the port one) was open ?

[OvertHawk]

Very well done. Did I notice the para doors (at least the port one) was open ?
Perhaps a pre-landing precaution in case a rapid exit was required?

[dead_pan]

Intrigued by how long it ran/scraped along the runway - would more or less damage have been done had the crew engaged maximum breaking the moment the nose touched the runway?

[1771 DELETE]

I think the Nimrod fleet had at least three nose gear failures due to sequence valve failures on the doors, jack it up and drop the gear.

[chevvron]

C5s have an emergency nosewheel lowering system (which had to be used by the one bringing Marine 1, 2 and 3 into Farnborough back in the '90s); do C17s not have one?
OK once it's down, it's down and it then had to fly to Mildenhall at 2,000ft to get it fixed generating lots of frantic phone calls from people on the ground locally!

[ancientaviator62]

The C130 had several ways of lowering the NLG (and the MLG) when normal service failed.

[DeanoP]

Hope you are well AA62. Hope that this is not too much of a thread drift. Ref your post above.

Originally posted on "Global Aviation 60 years of the Hercules" and copied below:


Hydraulic Problem (Ref Post1870)I was Nav on OC48Sqn's route check Changi-Hong Kong in March 1970. Wx was poor at Kai Tak and we had to hold for 30min. On pre-landing checks nose wheel(NLG) would not lock. We continued in the hold to sort it out. Inspection through the NLG inspection window showed the NLG hydraulic line damaged. A decision was made to divert to Clarke AFB ( Philippines)about 600nms away, as there was a strong possibility of NLG collapse on landing at Kai Tak and blocking runway + poor Wx there. Clarke was CAVOK and had a foam strip available and C130 servicing. En route to Clarke, NLG hatch was removed, and a load restraint chain passed around the NLG and tensioned back to a strong point in the hold. Diversion was at 163kts (the gear down limiting speed), at 12000ft because we had pax on board and no pressurisation with NLG hatch removed. Clarke laid a foam strip for us and with a very gentle lowering of the nose the NLG held firm. Total flight time was 8hrs 30mins and we landed with 1500lbs (about 30mins) fuel remaining.
We carried fuel for the wife and kids in those days, thank goodness!

[sycamore]

DeanoP,...Jetplan fuel...?

[DeanoP]

sycamore (https://www.pprune.org/members/53623-sycamore)

No Jetplan in those days.
Latterly, even when using Jetplan, the diversion fuel was never calculated on an Undercarriage down and Unpressurised scenario.
I remember doing the fuel calculation for the undercarriage down diversion, which gave us a bit of a loiter capability, and then the NLG window was removed. So start again, a recalculation of the fuel required at 12000ft meant we had to depart for Clarke AFB straight away. Luckily, the calculations were correct and we landed with minimums. It was a tense 3 hour diversion.

[ancientaviator62]

DeanoP,
I am well as I hope you are. IIRC when going to HK we had to carry Manila diversion fuel because Taiwan was off limits for diplomatic reasons. We did the same NLG chaining after a night para sortie at Changi.

[TBM-Legend]

In an ancient time I hitched a ride on an RAF C-130 from Honolulu to Moffat Field in California. After a great night at the Pearl Harbour O'Club and late to bed we trundled off two hours late due fuel truck issues having been parked out on the outer banks of the Hickham ramp. A low trip ensured with some Wx and we arrived at Moffat just on dusk. Low cloud and scud and quite a breeze in the circuit to discover two greens only. The nose gear decided to stay up. A go around and staying VFRish in the circuit area saw the emergency extension not do its job so the FE headed into the dark space to play with it; around twenty minutes later success. Everyone down the back airsick. Taxy to AirMov to be meet by noone - our bus had gone thinking we weren't coming.

[ancientaviator62]

IIRC the two emergency ways of getting the NLG down on the C130 were via the aux pump and a changeover valve on the forward port side of the cargo bay and the 'freefall' method via a lever under the co pilot's feet. If using the former method then a few pumps with the handle would check whether the system maintained pressure before using the aux hydraulic pump full pressure.
There was a small mechanical indicator on the NLG itself but to check it meant taking off the always dirty inspection window. I am would be surprised if the C17 did not have a similar system.

[Geezers of Nazareth]

I watched the video (or possibly the same one at a different source?) and the tail-number was 'redacted' by a black square. A short while later, some simple research, it was aircraft 08-8199.

They have obviously managed to patch it up enough for some flight ... it flew into Ramstein just recently.
Today, it has departed Ramstein and is heading across the Atlantic at 12,000 feet.

It's not the first time this has been done ... aircraft 07-7189 over-ran the runway on landing in Afghanistan in 2012 and suffered worse damage. It was 'mostly' repaired on-site and flown back to the USA.