Posted on 04/03/2021 8:33:33 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
When Marine Corps Capt. William Mahoney took off for a routine training flight on June 7, 2014, he was probably just expecting to fly a few hundred miles and use some missiles to shoot down alien spacecraft (…because we get our entire understanding of Marine Corps aviation from Independence Day).
But what Mahoney didn’t know was that his AV-8 Harrier had a landing gear problem that wouldn’t become apparent until the jet alerted him to it in the air.
VIDEO
He flew past the control tower on the USS Bataan and asked the people there to take a look. They let him know that his front landing gear wasn’t down.
For those who aren’t aware, the front landing gear is very important on all aircraft. Jump jets are less susceptible to problems from landing without gear than other aircraft are, but it’s still a very dangerous gamble.
Luckily, the other pilots on the Bataan had a bold idea.
Wait, “crazy” isn’t spelled B-O-L-D.
The crew ran a very nice, custom stool out to the deck and chained it down. Mahoney then flew his jet very slowly toward the stool and bounced the nose of it.
Yeah, he bounces the nose of his multi-million dollar jet on a what is basically a well-dressed stool.
But it worked. Mahoney took a second to breathe and remember how to turn his jet off, and then climbed out to the general praise of his shipmates. You can see the whole landing and an interview with Mahoney in the video at the top.
You typically need custom stands to be able to test the hydraulics for the landing gear & landing gear doors while performing maintenance checks. Every base and carrier has them. They aren’t intended to be used like this, but when there are no other alternatives but ditching or ejecting over waters I think most aviators would take their chances landing on the saddle.
Try THAT with one of your zoomer aircraft other than the STOVL F35.
He didn’t shoot down an alien spacecraft? Well, never mind...
Thanks for posting this great story.
“..Mahoney took a second to breathe and remember how to turn his jet off..”
By then he probably had his own stool..in his flight suit!
The Barstoolers are a semi-secret group of active and retired (air force) fighter pilots, all men, who gather annually in Nevada for a weekend of drinking, golf and carousing. Formed in the 1950s as a way for Korean War veterans to keep in touch, the association has about 1,000 members and chapters at Air Force bases around the world.
https://apnews.com/article/e3d4f05ae8d7425c1d4713b99c814b77
This Marine needs to be offered membership!
Nice job, but I believe that any military-trained helo/VTOL pilot could do it.
I worked Big Deck Aviation in the NAVY and this is a very complex operation behinds scenes. 1)You usually have the most Senior Pilot on Comms with the pilot. 2)Air Bos’N (The Flight Deck Chief Fire Fighter) and the Crash and Salvage Crew set up the Stool with dozens of tie down chains on the Center Line as on it’s the point of reference for all pilots. 3) The pilot more than likely made a half a dozen approaches to burn off fuel. 4) The Senior Pilot had him centered up with spotters and slowly drop his power until he was on the stool. The real credit belongs to the pilot as he fell back on his training and was Cool Hand Luke thru the whole process I have seen the complete video. I was once landing a CH-53 on the GW in the Gulf she started to shake (more than usual)which was a clear sign of building up Ground Resonance give the pilot the emergency lift signal and hard to port to keep the blades away from my plane handlers who were coming in from the starboard side for chalks and tiedowns. She flow back to Bahrain for inspection. Boss commended me for quick thinking I told him I just fell back on my training!
You don’t “turn off” a jet when you’re done with it, you shut it down. They make it sound as easy as turning a light switch off. There’s a lengthy shutdown checklist I can assure you.
It sounds like the sky is being ripped open.
As a Aviation Boatswain’s Mate I can tell you we use to train every 2 days for emergencies when deployed. I went down to Cherry Point on TAD Orders for 2 weeks to prep a Marine Airwing for deployment. Approaching the stool is a requirement, but not landing in training.
When I was on the GW we had one in our Crash and Salvage Yard. I hated the mats as they wee heavy as bricks.
Great stuff!
What would you do if front gear deployed but rear gear didn’t?
Option (b) is to send your crew underneath to unstick the nose landing gear while the front of the helicopter is hovering, with the main landing gear on the deck. CH-53E stuck nose gear
I thought it had to something from the poop deck...
Some Marines still improvise...
Beautiful!!!!!!
A white male did that????????????
The Harriers, Super Hornets, and Prowlers are being phased out for the F-35 Bs and Cs.
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