One of our F111 does a bellyflop today!

[skippy505]

http://media.fairfax.com.au/?rid=20473

 

Cheers,

 

Skippy505

[Force_Feedback]

American tyres, tsk, tsk, tsk :p

 

j/k, they're better than lada ones

[Starlight]

[Sleek]

Nice job! good to see the crew get out ok ;)

[S77th-konkussion]

Nice landing. Glad they're ok.

[S77th-GOYA]

What would be the disadvantage to putting it down on the grass? I've seen a few belly in and they are always on the runway, so there must be a good reason.

[Sealpup]

What would be the disadvantage to putting it down on the grass? I've seen a few belly in and they are always on the runway, so there must be a good reason.

 

The possibility that part of the aircraft may get a better hold on the ground than another part, and rip itself to pieces. Also, speaking as someone who's been tromping around an airfield before, the ground between all the concrete is anything BUT flat!

[S77th-konkussion]

Yep I was guessing it could get knocked to one side if bumpy (roll) and get into an end over end flip. Could take out a lot of lighted airfield markings & equipment.

[VMFA117_Poko]

The possibility that part of the aircraft may get a better hold on the ground than another part, and rip itself to pieces. Also, speaking as someone who's been tromping around an airfield before, the ground between all the concrete is anything BUT flat!

Hmm... Can You see the sparks under the aicraft? Think why Russians prefer to belly on grass. I won't tell anything else.

[Pilotasso]

I just heard of this, a couple of minutes ago. Apparently the Aussies are going to loose AArdvark capability as the Camberra Goverment decided to retire the type efective immidiatly.

 

The Autralians then can no longer counter other countries in the region with long range strike fighters and the balance is in need of some equilibrium now.

[VMFA117_Poko]

The Autralians then can no longer counter other countries in the region with long range strike fighters and the balance is in need of some equilibrium now.

Australians wait for F-22 right now.

[59th_LeFty]

The Autralians then can no longer counter other countries in the region with long range strike fighters and the balance is in need of some equilibrium now.

Don't you rember the Fighter Fling videos?

 

America's newest legacy srtike fighter. The Hornet! - sponsored by Texaco:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0147880/L/

[cool_t]

Ouch

 

Why did they not foam the runway? Union break?

 

:lol:

[pho3nix]

Apparently the Aussies are going to loose AArdvark capability as the Camberra Goverment decided to retire the type efective immidiatly.

 

The Autralians then can no longer counter other countries in the region with long range strike fighters and the balance is in need of some equilibrium now.

 

The type will be in service until at least 2010 with the incident not changing the planed retierment of the aircraft.

[Brit_Radar_Dude]

D@mn fine piece of flying.....:thumbup:

[Sealpup]

Hmm... Can You see the sparks under the aicraft? Think why Russians prefer to belly on grass. I won't tell anything else.

 

Oh yeah. I got to watch a Talon do a belly-flop at Tinker (from the top of one of the RVR towers, no less!) and it is, indeed a light show. Usually, though, they either dump fuel or fly circles to burn it all off before trying, so that the light show is just from aluminum becoming thermite.

[Nate Dogg]

I can think of one reason for not landing on grass

Slippery slide anyone? especially in winter when the grass is usually damp, he could have slid for ages landing on that stuff, plus the chance of getting the plane nose first into the dirt and flipping it over would have been ugly if he didn't get it right. Just my thoughts. Good pilots here in australia, nice landing

cheers

[Force_Feedback]

Why did they not foam the runway? Union break?

 

:lol:

 

It is no longer standard procedure to foam the runway, as it will exhause the foam supply of the firetrucks, and make the plane slide farther that it would without using foam. The risk of fires is the one everybody is willing to take, especially when the tenders have a full water/foam tank. In some rare occasions only the contact area is foamed, again, this to ensure abundant foam supplies and allow for better decelleration by the dry concrete/asphalt.

[Anytime]

No just grounded until they find out what went wrong. Still one sexy looking jet.:music_whistling:

 

 

I just heard of this, a couple of minutes ago. Apparently the Aussies are going to loose AArdvark capability as the Camberra Goverment decided to retire the type efective immidiatly.

 

The Autralians then can no longer counter other countries in the region with long range strike fighters and the balance is in need of some equilibrium now.

[VMFA117_Poko]

I can think of one reason for not landing on grass

Slippery slide anyone? especially in winter when the grass is usually damp, he could have slid for ages landing on that stuff, plus the chance of getting the plane nose first into the dirt and flipping it over would have been ugly if he didn't get it right. Just my thoughts. Good pilots here in australia, nice landing

cheers

I've heard about premeditated flipping over. Such move shorts slide but doing this too early... well, even a long twintail won't help from crashing a cockpit conopy.

[Squid23]

Australians wait for F-22 right now.

 

We wish!:)

[Maverick-90]

We wish!:)

F-22 won't be available for sale in the next 10 years...

[S77th-Stalker]

The F-111 was only grounded until investigation complete. Then it will be retired in 2010, then the FA-18 goes multi role.

 

Aircraft was landed on runway cause an arrestor hook was required to stop the fatboy (21 tonne empty, 73 feet long), where it stayed for almost two days.

Not a pretty sight though $75 million worth of aircraft sliding down the tarmac. S!

[PaddyTB]

Latest word is

 

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.

[Guest IguanaKing]

The possibility that part of the aircraft may get a better hold on the ground than another part, and rip itself to pieces. Also, speaking as someone who's been tromping around an airfield before, the ground between all the concrete is anything BUT flat!

 

Exactly! Grass landings may seem more attractive in terms of damage to the aircraft, but the small, unknown anomalies in an unprepared area can mean the difference between a slightly damaged aircraft and a completely destroyed aircraft with flight crew's eyeballs and bits of their clothing being found in gyro and altimeter cases. An asphalt or concrete runway may be hard, but its guaranteed to be consistent...grass may or may not be. That is an excellent bit of flying on the part of that Vark crew. I have seen B-1s and C-5s land at ED without nose gear, and the skill is the same. Minor repairs were required for that B-1 and C-5 before they were deemed fit to fly again. As for the "who's aircraft can fly quicker after a gear-up?" contest. This is not an indicator of aircraft durability, as I have known some pilots to elect to fly their aircraft after a cursory engine inspection following a prop strike...the key here is that "have known" is PAST TENSE. For those who say "X aircraft is superior because it could fly only Y amount of days after Z amount of damage."...its very simple...as the old saying goes "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots. But there is no such thing as an old, bold pilot."