F3 Belly Landing!
 

Late this afternoon on runway 27 at Leu, a 56(R)Sqn Tornado F3 made a gear up landing at Leuchars. I don't know any more at the moment, but i hope the crew got out safely!

The Beeb claims they were indeed all fine and I certainly haven't heard any different.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3292551.stm

So come on spill the beans, who was it. I can't be bothered to call the boys and find out who it was. Plus it takes a long time for news to reach this abandoned devils island.....:{

devil's brew!
 

artyhug

sorry i don't know any names.................

about devils island...............................>>>>>>>>
just make sure though that you are there on saturday!

as when i was there no-one stayed !

and listen to the M.C.!!!!!

best night on the island!!!!!!!!!

minzastella
:ok:

In the above BBC story they quote an RAF spokesman as saying that "All aircrew train for exactly this emergency although it is a very unusual event....". Really? I thought that the pointy FJ types preferred the Martin Baker option to landing with no wheels. Has this been done before with any of the current FJ fleet?

On my fleet (large multi-jet transport) we use the sim to practice ditching (with wheels up of course) and variations on not having ALL the gear down but I don't recall ever practicing a complete wheels-up.

Anyway, well done to the lads who pulled this one off!

just heard on the news that the RAF spokesman said 'they crew had the option of dumping the aircraft in the north sea, but they decided to bring it home instead' or something along those general lines. good jaarb boys:ok:

An Italian tried it a Whattabore years ago albeit in advertently but he pulled back too hard and never got back up All crew safe as I recall:ooh:
First the Wadddo incident now this What next? they do say these things come in threes

Insty 66

Waddo Incident? Please tell more.

Ahhh...

That'll teach me not to look ahead! Just seen a later thread and now understand.

Found this link:

http://www.scottishinformer.com/news...tacks_jet.html

"An RAF pilot landed his plane at Leuchars today BUT FORGOT TO PUT THE WHEELS DOWN. The pilot, Rogers, 38, formerly of Yemen, now Fife said, 'Normally it's one of the things I check before landing. But today I just forgot...'"

"A spokesman said, 'RAF pilots often forget to put the wheels down but sometimes they don't come down anyway. This pilot should be praised as he managed to steer clear of the local school before landing at nearly 700mph WITH THE WHEELS UP.'"

"The co-pilot, who sits in the back seat and isn't actually a pilot, walked away from the wreckage unscathed."

Tornado Incident
 

I have just seen the following report on the Sky News website;

CRASH JET CREW SAFE

An RAF crew was forced to land a Tornado jet without wheels after a mid-air scare during a training exercise.

The pilot and co-pilot issued a Mayday after discovering they were unable to lower the undercarriage.


The crew burned off excess fuel to lighten the load of the jet and reduce the speed at which it had to travel in order to land.

At the same time ground staff at RAF Leuchars, Fife, launched the base's station emergency plan.

Rescue Sea King helicopters from RAF Boulmer in Northumberland and the Royal Navy rescue flight at Gannet, Prestwick were scrambled.

On the ground fire, rescue and medical teams were put on stand by.

The Tornado landed on its underside on the main runway travelling at just under 200 mph.

The two-man crew stepped out apparently unhurt and were taken for a routine medical examination.

An RAF spokesman praised the crew's response.

He said: "They did a very professional job to get themselves and the aircraft down safely.

"All aircrew train for exactly this emergency although it is a very unusual event."


Obviously pleased to see that the crew got out safely and without injury.

Anybody got any more info on what happened?

Also, I am not a pilot, but do work in the industry, and find a landing speed of ' just under 200 mph' a little excessive, even for an aircraft with problems. Does this sound right to you guys who do the driving, or is this a bit more artistic license from the Journo's??

From The Scotsman
 

Probe after RAF Jet Crash-Lands

By Louise Gray, Scottish Press Association


The RAF launched an investigation today after a Tornado was forced to land without any wheels.

The crew of the F3 air interceptor managed to walk away unhurt last night despite landing the jet on its belly during a training exercise.

Now engineering staff at RAF Leuchars, where the jet touched down at just under 200mph, are looking at the aircraft to see what went wrong.

An expert group from South Wales was also due to carry out an investigation into the incident.

The pilot and co-pilot issued a Mayday around 5pm after discovering they were unable to lower the jet’s undercarriage.

The crew dumped fuel in the North Sea to lighten the load of the jet and reduce the speed at which it had to travel in order to land.

At the same time ground staff at RAF Leuchars in Fife launched the base’s station emergency plan.

Rescue Sea King helicopters from RAF Boulmer in Northumberland and the Royal Navy rescue flight at Gannet, Prestwick, were scrambled.

On the ground fire, rescue and medical teams were put on stand-by.

The Tornado landed on its underside on the main runway at at 5.30pm, travelling at just under 200mph.

The two-man crew stepped out apparently unhurt and were taken for a routine medical examination.

An RAF spokesman praised the crew’s response.

He said: “They did a very professional job to get themselves and the aircraft down safely.

“All air crew train for exactly this emergency although it is a very unusual event.”

The airfield was closed but will reopen when the aircraft has been removed and the area swept for debris, the spokesman said.

The aircraft was from 56 Squadron, the operational conversion unit (OCU), at Leuchars where pilots undergo final advanced training before joining a squadron.


Sounds a bit better than forgetting!
Bl00dy glad they got it back - as long as the SEngO can strip it for spares it will be worth it!

Well done that man.

Re Flt Lt Spry post and his Scottish Informer link-unfortunately it doesn't work which is a great pity as I would love to read their full and clearly well informed report of this incident.
It's journalism of this quality that makes us all proud of the nation's media services.
Keep smiling.

"An expert group from South Wales was also due to carry out an investigation into the incident."

Which one - Stereophonics, Manics or Super Furry Animals?!

Well done guys; top belly flopping!

:D

more likely 200 km/h ?

specs advise normal landing speed = 115 kt or 213 km/h or 132 mph

e.g. .....

http://www.ftk.dk/english/ampletrain...DO_english.htm

cheers ..... hobie

ps .......

BBC also saying 200 mph ......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3292551.stm

I used to be on Tornado GR1/4s (ground attack version) but have flown about 100 hours on the Tornado F3 which is almost certainly the variant involved here. I cannot remember the exact speeds (last flight 1995) but my memory of the GR1/4 was that the basic approach speed calculation began at about 145 knots and if I remember correctly the F3 was a little higher than that. You then have to make allowances for fuel, stores etc and we always made approaches around about 152 - 157 knots. 157 knots is just over 180 mph so if the F3 is a little faster then an approach speed of just under 200 mph is not far off the truth.

Now what I do remember is that if the wings were stuck fully back (63° or 67° depending on variant) instead of fully forward (25°) then it was possible to have an approach speed in excess of 200kts (230mph). Fortunately I do not know of any case where that scenario arose for real but it was practised regularly on approach without actually landing. Now that would have been an interesting landing!

I am slightly surprised that it was considered safer to land gear up rather than take the Martin-Baker option. But I suppose that was still available as a backup if it all went wrong.

NSF...I was wondering about the comment regarding training for ''Exactly this event...'' Do you ? If so how and apart from the obvious fact that you don't call three greens what else is involved ?

Roghead:

The reason the link doesn't work is cos it's a spoof.

I suspect Flt Lt Spry lives somewhere northern, and does stuff with pointy things . . .

Think how much we taxpayers have saved not paying for search and salvage to investigate the problem. Medals for the crew.

I am not familiar with the Tornado systems but could a failure (hydraulics?) that prevented lowering the gear also leave the aircraft in a clean configuration that require higher approach and landing speeds?

OK so I bit... and I thought I was too old to swallow. Mind you the report would do some of our "popular" daily papers proud.

Well done to the crew-been there myself and its only funny afterwards.

Keep smiling.