Airman Forgets to Lower Wheels, Crashes $136 Million U.K. Fighter Jet

FOXNews.com ^ | May 01, 2008 | The Sun

[Berlin_Freeper]

A Royal Air Force top gun crash-landed a new $136.3 million Typhoon fighter — apparently after forgetting to put the wheels down during a training exercise in California.

The state-of-the-art jet was badly damaged as it skidded along a runway on its belly at 130 mph.

"Everything points to the pilot forgetting to lower the wheels, which does happen from time to time," an RAF insider said.

[Berlin_Freeper]

The mangled jet will be brought back to Britain to see if it can be repaired.

[cardinal4]

No ground prox warning?

[arderkrag]

Military intelligence at its finest.

[VR-21]

No “Check three down and locked” either.

[PAR35]

Looks like it should be pretty easy to spot on radar.

[Billthedrill]

"Everything points to the pilot forgetting to lower the wheels, which does happen from time to time," an RAF insider said.

Yes, it does indeed. And "everything points" to it because it's really, really, really difficult to explain otherwise when you're sitting in a jet fighter belly-down on the runway. That must be a rather uncomfortable feeling.

Fortunately, one's fellow pilots are a forgiving bunch and would never give somebody a hard time over it...heh heh...sucks to be him...

[Dr.Zoidberg]

For nearly 140 million dollars, I would expect there is some variant of Bitching Betty to let him know he’s screwing up.

But being a Brit jet, the English butler system they use may have been too polite to get to the heart of the matter.

“Excuse me sir, but there appears to be a problem with the....” CRASH...SKID... “Wheels. Oh my, never mind, Sir.”

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Hate it when that happens.

[Michael.SF.]

I hate it when that happens!

[rmlew]

That better have been a malfunction, or he totaled his career.

[GnuHere]

Wills’ GF has moved to California?!
Dang, imagine the fuel costs...

[doc1019]

I believe the tower kept calling “Wheels up, wheels, up”, seems the pilot was distracted

[doc1019]

Yep, Mickydees is (are) always looking for a few good washed out pilots.

[wastedyears]

Might not come up on ILS.

[Liberty Valance]

[dr_lew]

On the History Channel I saw a clip of a WWII era training film which showed a ground crew man firing a flare to wave off a trainee who had forgotten to lower his gear. I guess the old problems are the best problems. Maybe they need that guy with the flare.

[Dov in Houston]

I bet he doesn/t get an offer from United

[taxesareforever]

“Wheels Up”. Check

[cynwoody]

A good landing.

A good landing is one you walk away from. A great landing is when you can take off again.

[BurbankKarl]

Well, at least it wasnt Prince William doing it. So much for the Eurofighter.

[Fast Moving Angel]

Are they gonna take the repairs out of his paycheck?

[Minn]

seems the pilot was distracted

What do you bet it's a girl problem? Probably got a Dear John letter, or opened his credit card bill, just before take off.

[aviator]

He tied the world record for low altitude flying.

[Polybius]

"Everything points to the pilot forgetting to lower the wheels, which does happen from time to time," an RAF insider said.

After taking the aircraft design back to the drawing board, changes were made to ensure that such incidents don't happen again.

[tet68]

Where was the Wheel watch?
I spent many an hour out at the end of the runway with binocs and a radio.

[Nathan Zachary]

""Everything points to the pilot forgetting to lower the wheels, which does happen from time to time," an RAF insider said."

WTF?

Alright then, Carry on then chaps! Hip hip and all that rot.

I think there's a suttle clue in that statement that tells us the reason WHY that happens from time to time in the RAF

[DoughtyOne]

Similar incident...

At about 10 p.m. local time on May 8, 2006, a 7th Bomb Wing B-1B Lancer (Tail Number 86132 - called "Oh! Hard Luck") based at Dyess AFB, Texas, made a wheels-up belly landing on runway 31 at Diego Garcia, skidding 7,500 feet down the runway. The aircraft was landing at the end of an 11 hour  ferry mission that started at Andersen AFB, Guam.  During the landing, the B-1B caught fire and emergency crews extinguished the flames.  The four-person aircrew escaped from the plane through the overhead escape hatch. The aircraft was finally removed from the runway 4 days later.  The Air Force Accident Investigation, released 18 Septemeber 2006, concluded the pilots forgot to lower the landing gear.  The USAF estimated the damage to the B-1B at $7.9 million, and the damage to the runway at $14,025.  RBRM and those old SEABEES made one tough runway, that's for sure!  For those of you who've never seen a $285,000,000.00 bomber on the deck, here she is!  And at the bottom is a picture of what $7.9 million in repairs and a year of work can accomplish!






http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/bombers4.html
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/military/read.main/46228/

[ASA Vet]

Again? You'd have thought he'd have learned from doing the same thing yesterday.

[ASA Vet]

You have no clue about MI do you?

[arderkrag]

Man...now all we need is this guy (or his cousin, since he's toast) as lead bomb inspector and we'll have a dream team.

[arderkrag]

Actually, yeh, I do. I come from a miltiary family, and have a ton of friends in the service. Some of the stories they tell keep me saying prayers for the future of our country. You may have heard the story a few years back (first half year of occupation of Iraq) about the Marine who tried to arrest the British tanks - that’s my cousin-in-law. Seriously. He saw tanks rolling to his checkpoint, and promptly tried to stop them all by his onesies. Too bad they were the wrong side.

[Caipirabob]

A Royal Air Force top gun crash-landed a new $136.3 million Typhoon fighter — apparently after forgetting to put the wheels down during a training exercise in California.

My guess is that the British will immediately implement a new system to warn pilots against this mishap in the future.

I'm guessing it's going to be this fellah's new job.

Tower: "Larry? It's Ted..."

Pilot: "Oh, right! Lowering wheels now..."

Tower: "That's great, Larry...thanks..."

[Recovering_Democrat]

oops

[Berlin_Freeper]

Same incident, different news source.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Shut up, Miss Drescher.

[jamaksin]

Must have forgotten ye olde GUMPS checklist - especially the “U” part!

[A.A. Cunningham]

[Tommyjo]

How about waiting for the board of enquiry? There is a possibility that three green lights appeared, but the nosewheel might have not deployed. US pilots on exchange with the RAF absolutely love the aircraft. The power available from the engines is simply amazing. Some snaps from the practice displays for the up and coming airshow season.

[ops33]

I am a retired USAF air traffic controller. When I worked at fighter bases the observer you were referring to, called the Runway Supervisory Officer (RSO) was still in use. They sat in a little booth at the approach end of the runway with two flare guns mounted in brackets. If a pilot came into land with his gear up they would fire a red flare. Only saw it used once in my career but it did work.
The article doesn’t mention whether or not there was an RSO on duty or if a flare was fired.

[GreyFriar]

I wonder how much off-duty time he spends flying fixed-wheel airplanes?

[Thermalseeker]

For nearly 140 million dollars, I would expect there is some variant of Bitching Betty to let him know he’s screwing up.

Yep, it's called a "prelanding checklist".......but you actually have to use it for it to be effective......

[TheBattman]

Related to this story:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2009656/posts

???

[Don Carlos]

How about doing a follow up post when his new nick-name is firmed up, ok?

[RGSpincich]

He was probably on his cellphone.

[Erasmus]

“There are two kinds of pilots in this world: Those who have... and those who will.....”

[zot]

I wonder how much off-duty time he spends flying fixed-wheel airplanes?

Starting now, he will probably spend all his flying time that way.

[PAR35]

I believe the tower kept calling “Wheels up, wheels, up”, seems the pilot was distracted

Or the pilot considered it an instruction, not a warning.

[doc1019]

ROFL!