How the professionals do it (F111)

[River]

Nice and neat performance...

 

Rodger

 

 

 

 

 

[Ultralights]

i love how on the video footage the Navigator was out and running

 

within a few seconds of the aircraft stopping, and it took the pilot a

 

few more seconds to follw him. can imagine him now! the

 

navigator in full sprint saying, you ok without looking back....

 

some at work here (in the hornets nest) is that the arrestor probably

 

did more damge than good, as it dragged the aircraft from the air, and

 

pulled it down with a thump causing a lot more damage than if it was

 

allowed to skid to a stop, more friction damage and a lot less

 

impact damge without the arrestor, either way,

 

brilliant flying and both walked away. fantastic job.

 

 

[River]

G'day 'Ultralights', <?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

Yes, there has been quite a bit a err... discussion on that point of view as you could easily see how everything was very smooth and damm well controlled until the cable was hooked. The ship which was about 1.5 metres off the deck then lost all interest in a nice controlled flight gently onto the deck and dropped possibly harder than was expected from that last metre or so. You may have noticed the equipment that the ship was carrying in the ordinance bay wastotaled too... .

 

But still, by not using the cable and sliding way down the strip there was a reasonable chance of major fire or worst, the ship turning sideways and possibly losing it big time.... At least using the cable the fire'ies know just where the ship will (should) stop .

 

Only glitch now is how to remove the breast from the strip... .

 

Cheers,

 

Rodger

 

 

[hiperlight]

When you think about it, the arrestor hook and cable probably kept the F-111 straight on the runwaypreventing it from slewing sideways and perhaps dipping a wing in and rolling up in a ball.

 

I'm a bit surprised the RAAF allowed the pilot to attempt the belly landing. I thought the normal procedure would have been to point the machine out to sea and eject.

 

Perhaps the cost of replacing the aircraft these days exceeds the cost of training a new pilot and navigator!!!!

 

Hey...imagine how many Jabirus one could buy with the money needed to repair that F-111.

 

Bruce

 

 

[Guest MMax]

Hi Guys,

 

Why didnt he choose the grass ?

 

I thought it would of been safer.

 

regards Arthur Withy

 

 

[Wilfred]

There was an article recently in either Flight Safety or Australian Flying I cant recall which where it was sugested that there is less likelyhood of damage doing a wheels up if you pick the tarmac

 

 

[Guest Guest]

That's correct. When you land on the grass there's more chance of parts digging in and causing you to spin around and potentially roll up in a ball.

 

Had the hook not been there there's a fair chance it would have caught on fire from the extra speed.

 

An arrestor hook on the grass would have been a different story.

 

It's standard OPS to fit arrestor hooks at all fields where the F111's fly from, plus Hornets, etc.

 

Atleast if it's too broken it can go in a museum or something.

 

 

[Guest MMax]

Thanks guys for the info, also thanks to Rodger for posting the greatpics.

 

try this video link if you missed it on the news. Not great quality and about a 4 meg download.

 

http://mp3.news.com.au/bcm/f111.wmv

 

regards Arthur

 

 

[Admin]

No word on F-111 incident

 

July 21, 2006 12:21pm

 

Article from: AAP

 

THE Defence Department has refused to comment on whether a wrongly-inserted wheel pin is to blame for a dramatic emergency landing of an F-111 fighter jet.

 

The 26-strong F-111 fleet has been grounded while Tuesday's incident is investigated.

 

"We're not prepared to speculate on any causes for the incident until the investigation is carried out," a department spokesman said.

 

Today's Courier-Mail newspaper reported that a 12cm pin inserted back-to-front in the wheel was the reason for the emergency landing.

 

The spokesman said an interim report was due early next week.

 

Flying officer Peter Komar, 29, and navigator Flight Lieutenant Luke Warner, 32, were forced to make an emergency landing of their F-111 at the RAAF Amberley Base, west of Brisbane.

 

The plane was forced to circle for three hours to burn off fuel before landing after it lost a left wing wheel on takeoff.

 

There were no plans to bring forward the retirement of the F-111 planes - which are due to wind up their service in 2010.

 

Australian Defence Association executive director Neil James defended the planes, saying a modern aircraft may have fallen to pieces at such a landing.

 

"They're (F-111s) large and made of steel and that particular aircraft will be flying again," said Mr James.

 

 

[Ultralights]

Talking to our F18 test flyer here, he also mentioned the F111 has its speed brake between the main gear, and the speed brake is actually part of the Undecarriage door sytem, and a geear up landing meant that to slower approach speed and braking effect of the speed brake isnt available, and hence resulted in a much higher landing speed than with gear extended, hence increasing chance of rollover/fire etc. so using the hook was the safest option for a gear up landing.

 

the option of bailing out is an absolute last resort, it means the loss of an aircraft, and also it isnt exactly the safest option either, pilots have been killed during the ejection process. not only that, when the handle is pulled in the F111, the entire cockpit "pod" is released from the aircraft, and ejecting at sea will also require getting out of the cockpit once it hits the ocean, as they had time to burn fuel off, emergency choppers could have been sent to the location to retrieve the crew if they did punch out. but considering the jet was still 100% controlable and serviceable ecxept the nose wheel, then a belly landing was the safest option.

 

what i cant figure out is, only 1 of the 2 nose wheels seperated, so why wasnt a gear down normal landing tried? anyway.... i wonder if millitary aircraft are Insured??

 

The F111 is a tough aircraft, and she might still live to fly another day!

 

and a final note, rumour has it the pilot only has approx 100 hrs total time and has just completed his pig(F111) endorsement after coming off the PC9.. brilliant flying from the young lad!

 

a final thing that has cought my attention, why did they have to circle for 3 hrs to burn off fuel?? they do have the ability to dump fuel! im sure we have all seen the Dump and burn routine at every airshow!

 

Ultralights

 

 

[Admin]

HeyRiver, If you didn't know the story then that 2nd picture is brilliant - one would assume they were flying very close to the ground but then you scroll down to the 3rd picture and say "Oops"

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

I think the F111's insurance policy is in my tax file

 

One nose wheel?tyre/axle loading, maybe

 

No fuel dump. let them sit up there and sweat a bit.

 

gives everyone time to check the options get ready and to set up the cameras.

 

wonder how many times that navigator has had to endure a rookies first few hours.

 

PC9 to Pig in 100hrsI bet he hated every minute of it.