RAAF F-111 Belly Landing

[alans1100]

Had this sent to me overnight.

If you're into special airplanes, even a little, here is a video I'm sure you'll enjoy if you haven't seen it. These guys do a remarkable job getting their aircraft back on the ground with a minimal amount of damage. Also, notice early in the video there is a sequence showing a F-111 dumping fuel with the afterburners on lighting up the night sky. Something a little unique to the F-111.The Australians flew the F-111 a lot longer.

The airplane was originally designed to land on a carrier deck so the gear structure is very strong. Even landing on a long runway you just maintain 10 degrees angle of attack until the runway stops your descent. Because this is the way the airplane was designed to be landed it felt just fine inside the airplane, but for an observer outside the aircraft it looked like you forgot to flare and really clobbered the landing. It is not known if metal fatigue was a factor in this accident but they are fortunate the wheel fell off upon liftoff and not while accelerating down the runway in full afterburner. Using the tail hook to catch the arresting cable was a great idea, as you will see.

Arresting wires on runways are not like the ones on the flight deck of a carrier. They provide less resistance and let you decelerate over about a 900 ft. range, something you wouldn't have room to do on a carrier.

https://youtu.be/KIyYK9oz9Go

[Brock]

Never get tired of seeing that. I know the Pilot Pete Komar, I was working at 2FTS when he went through flight school

[Lionel]

One of my bosses  landed a Phantom at Tullermarine with the landing gear up. A bit embarrassing.

[DaleMcLean]

 
Takes me back to the mid '70's in Amberley doing a junior NCO course (cadets  )
Being kept awake at night by F111's taking off on full afterburner and dumping to light the place up 

[Malcolm6112]

Awesome

 

[Whizz]

On the day this aircraft did it's belly landing I was working at Amberley. I was walking back to my office in the the BUP (Block Upgrade Program) Hangars when I spotted this main wheel delicately rolling past where I was about to walk and thumping sedately in the back of a Flight Lieutenants car. Quite a mind-blowing sight I can tell you! When I go back to my office a few minutes later I rang the tower and asked if anyone had lost a main wheel, this raised a few derogatory comments but about 30 minutes later we were contacted to evacuate us from our office as we were right on the edge of the main runway. 

We then proceeded to move to an area where we had a perfect view of the landing zone of the runway and we watched in fascination as the aircraft did it's practice approaches, and there were quite a few I promise you. Each approach coming lower and slower, until eventually they came in with the arrestor hook dropped, they grabbed the arrestor cable and plonked almost gently onto the ground.

A truly impressive bit of flying if I can say so myself as someone who had a clear eyeball sight of it, not through a TV camera, but mark 1 eyeballs! along with the sounds and smells that went with it. They did a superb job of saving (a) themselves and (b) the aircraft is circumstances that would normally have resulted in the  total destruction of the aircraft and possible loss of both aircrew.

I had the opportunity to later tell both of them how much I admired their consummate flying skill and coolness under a monumentally high level of stress.

So the story goes the original problem was due to a incorrectly fitted split pin which simply allowed the retaining nut on one wheel to come off whilst they belted down the runway taking off. As soon as they left he ground and the weight left the wheel it simply dropped off and rolled away.