Pilots forced into an emergency landing at Moorabbin
 

Pilots forced into an emergency landing at Moorabbin | Herald Sun

Pilots forced into an emergency landing at Moorabbin

TWO pilots have escaped injury after being forced into an emergency landing at Moorabbin airport today because of an unsafe gear.
Police said the pilots were having difficulty landing the light aircraft after they discovered one of the plane’s wheels would not lock down.

Morrabbin airport manager Phil McConnell praised the pilots efforts and said there was "minimal damage" to the Piper Saratoga aircraft.

“Due to an unsafe gear indication the pilots made an emergency landing at approximately 12:45 today,” Mr McConnell said.

“It was a text book landing from a very experienced pilot.”

He said all emergency crews had been on stand by.

“We get on average about four to five incidents like this every year.”
“We were fully prepared and are trained for a full emergency plan which worked perfectly with all rescue and fire fighting services in attendance.”
The emergency landing comes only nine days after a trainee pilot died when his plane clipped another aircraft just out of Moorabbin airport.

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Di :bored:

Great respect to the PIC for well done job! :D:ok:

Ohhh! Now there is an important relationship I would not have picked up unless pointed out to me!

Dr :8

anyone know the a/c rego?

I just saw it on Channel 10 news and looked like a Piper Saratoga VH-JFS

Well done to the pilot :D! Looked like they did a great job! :ok:

I hate it when I get forced into these emergency landings. I much prefer to know a long time in advance when I'm going to have an emergency, so I can stay in bed that day!

If you had plenty of fuel you would do the local operators a favour and divert to say...... Albury!

Less press and do gooders around!:ugh:

J

We would have taken him at our local field less than 10 minutes away and we have a firetruck to go with it and would give the local CFA something to get excited about. Definitely worth thinking about if something happens - as in keeping away from the big CBD airports if available.

It's like people who always head into a petrol station when something goes wrong with their car, EVEN WHEN their car catches on fire!

Looks like the bloke / blokette did a good job - would that we all manage so well when it's our turn. :ok:

XXX, respectfully; if I had an issue with an aeroplane my inclination (barring fire etc) is to head to the largest centre available, so that if the worst occurred I (and the pax) would have the best available RFFS on hand, the best emergency medical services, proximity to major trauma centre etc etc.

Two examples -

Had an electrical fire on climb ex Cooktown - did the immediates and went back to Cooktown and was on the ground within 3 minutes (a very looooong 3 minutes) of the onset of smoke. If the thing brewed up I wanted to be on the deck.

Had a gear unsafe coming into Cairns. Did the immediates, couldn't resolve, advised ATC, declared a local emergency and landed (very gingerly)at CS. If the thing went t!ts up on landing I wanted everyone and his dog there to help me.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...otos/Gear1.jpg

The media didn't warrant consideration.

My two bobs worth.

Glad you had enough time to snap a photo :) :ok:

Jamair, What happened to the Aircraft?
did the gear hold or did you end up using your wingtip as a makeshift landing gear?

Pyro

jamair.. that happy snap from a 402 or 404??

"I hate it when I get forced into these emergency landings."
Yep forced is the media favourite word these days. :ugh:

Dawg! I believe that "rusty thing" is the plastic safety cover for the t-handle that activates the emergency blow down bottle for the landing gear. :ok:

S

As it has the blow down bottle, i would say its either a 402 or a 441, (im not sure if the 421 had a blow down bottle) the 404 had a manual extension system between the driving seats.

The "IN" word these days with just about anybody the press interview is "textbook" landing, I love that word I could almost tell that was the very next few words b4 the respondant said it! !:bored: I didn't see the actual ldg on TV but was the engine shut down prior?


CW

Tis a 404, the rusty thing is indeed the cover for the blow down bottle, and yes I had plenty of time to take a pic cause I had 4 hours of fuel reserve in CAVOK and went outa the immediate zone to trouble shoot. I did blow the bottle too. No I didn't bend it; gear was fine, it was a downlock switch fault - but it sure was a SMOOOOTH landing, probably helped by the extreme pucker factor:p

I watched the landing at Moorabbin on fri from the run-up bay. If anything it was an anti-climax (thank goodness!!) for the 50 or so people watching from the sidelines. The pilot let it down gently on the left and as the right started to drop he shut down the engine but seeing that the nlg was out the prop didn't hit the ground. In fact after the gear was manually extended and with the engineers happy they had 3 greens the engine was started and the aircraft taxied up to the hanger, for some significant repairs i dare say as it did slide for a fair way after the wing hit.

JS