Posted on 08/16/2005 1:51:07 AM PDT by csvset
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| Personnel surround the C-2 Greyhound checking to see why its landing gear wouldn't deploy. The plane landed at 7:15 p.m. on its belly at Norfolk Naval Station. bill tiernan/the virginian-pilot.
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NORFOLK — A Navy cargo plane made an emergency belly landing at Norfolk Naval Station on Monday after circling the airfield for more than two hours because its landing gear had malfunctioned.
None of the 25 people on the plane were injured in the spark-filled landing, which Navy officials called “textbook.’’
The C-2 cargo plane took off from the Norfolk Naval Station at 5:10 p.m. It was one of six airplanes headed to a training mission in Pensacola, Fl a. Pilots immediately realized that the aircraft’s landing gear was not working properly, according to the squadron’s commanding officer, who was not on the plane.
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Here the plane touches down, shooting sparks out the back. All 25 crew members aboard were unhurt in the emergency landing. PHOTO COURTESY OF SKY13 WVEC/Channel 13 |
“I had many concerns, but no fear,’’ Cmdr. Hamlin Ortiz of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 120 said Monday night. “These are well-trained pilots with many hours of experience.’’
For more than two hours, the pilots circled the naval station, communicating with fellow Navy pilots on the ground in an effort to get the landing gear working.
“Our hearts were in the cockpit with them,’’ Ortiz said. “But in the end, it’s just the pilot and the machine.’’
At about 7:30 p.m. , the pilots made the decision to attempt a ''gear up’’ landing, putting the belly of the plane on the ground. They shut down one engine so its propeller would not strike the runway.
With live video playing on national news networks, the pilots set the plane down along the runway’s center line amid a shower of sparks. An arresting cable on the runway, snagged by the plane’s tailhook, helped it stop.
Everyone emerged un-harmed, and Ortiz said damage to the plane was “minimal.’’
“I’m the happiest man in Hampton Roads tonight,’’ he said. “They did a fantastic job.’’
Ortiz said the pilots were upbeat when he spoke to them afterward. He did not identify the pilots, but said they were both instructors and were lieutenants.
The Navy was examining the airplane Monday night to determine the cause of the malfunction. Ortiz did not know its age.
“The C-2 has been used for many, many years, but they are well-maintained,’’ Ortiz said. “We will put together what happened and why, and hopefully we can learn from this.’’
The plane is attached to the “Rawhides’’ of Fleet Composite Squadron 40. The Navy uses the C-2 Greyhound planes to transport passengers and cargo, such as mail, to aircraft carriers.
The maintenance professionals who were in the plane will fly to Florida today to continue their mission, Ortiz said.
Staff writer Jack Dorsey contributed to this report.
Reach Jim Washington at (757) 446-2536 or jim.washington@pilotonline.com.
Ping for your ping list.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/15/emergency.landing/index.html
CNN has a video of it. Green box lower right.
that is it!
Thanks for the link.
http://www.aboutrealstuff.com/video/747_landing.jsp
Have you seen this one?
This guy is good.
Whoopee! Big deal; I used to do forward slips to a landing all the time in my Piper Tomahawk. Well, now that I think of it, doing the same in a 747 might be a bit more technically challenging. Heh heh.
Seriously, I wonder why the strange attitude just prior to landing ... maybe pilot was simply crabbing into hellacious crosswinds?
Reminds me of one time I was playing golf at a course not far from the Maui airport. As a pilot, if I hear something out of the ordinary in nearby airspace I'll stop what I'm doing and look up. I sure looked up when I heard the engine noise of some heavy metal cycling through loud, soft, loud, soft ... lo and behold there's an L-1011 cutting big-ass S-turns on short final - I suppose on tower orders so they could get some other aircraft off the only runway they have for heavies. It's one thing to do S-turns in a small aircraft; but quite another to see the big boys doing it!
I remember when I was stationed on the USS Nimitz in the early 80's an A-6 had a landing gear malfunction and had to do a wheels-up landing ON THE CARRIER!!! It was a "barricade" recovery, but I didn't get to see it.
Our guys are so GOOD!
Leni
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