Jeep, Doing 80MPH, Drives Under Plane To Fix Landing Gear

AP ^ | 9/16/05

[raygun]

and I'm not fooling around when I say that either.

[pageonetoo]

This is a J-3!

[cgk]

With emergency vehicles in place, the Cessna flew in low and slow with a jeep right beside it. After several passes at about 80 miles per hour, the three-man crew in the jeep was able to see the problem and figure out how to fix it. On a final pass, the men used a five-foot long pole to push the landing gear into place and lock it. With that done, the plane was able to land safely.

I am SO impressed! I can barely put my HAND out the window at 80 mph, let alone a 5 foot pole! Kudos to these life-savers!

[The_Media_never_lie]

Wow, what a tale!

[The_Media_never_lie]

Wow, what a tale!

[Knitebane]

Strange to think that I've got some pictures of me somewhere that look quite similiar to that one, except it's circa 1986. I suspect that lead sled isn't an F-4S, either.

I bet I can still pull a rear seat bucket in 10 minutes. ;)

[Criminal Number 18F]

I think you might have pointed that pig out to me on the line there. The 172RG Gutless, I mean Cutlass, is something that has absolutely-no-use-on-earth except as a complex trainer. (A Arrow can be had in hi-po and complex trainer version and is useful enough to be a worthwhile rental machine).

Cessna singles have intricate retractable gear, and most shops and mechanics do NOT maintain them properly. It takes about five or six hours the first time you do it and it's supposed to be done on every annual!

Then, it's supposed to be hard and complicated so mechanics shy away from doing it. So a lot of operators pressure their mechanics for a cheap annual, and the mechanic just jacks the plane and swings the gear... and if it goes up and down signs off on a little white lie saying "inspected IAW Cessna Service Manual..." and for four or five years you get away with it... then one day there's a little ice in there, or one of the limit switches is that silly millimeter out of whack, and you're looking at lights that should all be green (but ain't) and going through Kübler-Ross's five stages of grieving all at once...

I'm not saying that that was the problem with Epic's 172RG. But it has been the problem with most of the 182RGs, 177RGs, and 210s that have that very x-pensive crunch of a gear-up landing (which ratio in the 210 fleet is approaching unity).

Even more than Mr Goodwrench, you can pay your A&P or repair station now, or you can pay him later.

A couple people asked about the investigation. A number of points in FAR 91 were violated, for one example, the restriction on not operating within 500 feet of any "Person, vessel, vehicle or structure," 91.119 (c), or even 91.13 ("reckless operation").

The operator and pilot can raise an affirmative defence of necessity to these charges (if the FAA chooses to make them). There is no real due process for FAA violations, there is instead a kangaroo court with an administrative law judge who is usually buddies with the FAA people bringing the case, there are no rules of evidence as are understood in normal criminal and civil cases, and the "conviction rate" approaches 100%. There is a rubber-stamp "appeal" available to the NTSB, which may reverse as many as two or three findings a year (out of thousands).

Most pilots under such investigation find the best strategy is to lawyer-up immediately and let the lawyer, who is usually one of the ex-FAA kangaroo court kangaroos, pull whatever levers get pulled in this US adaptation of Ugandan jurisprudence. If I were the operator of Epic or the IP on the 172RG, I'd be lawyered-up by now (which may explain why they weren't returning journalists' calls).

The most likely outcome in this case is that the FAA will conclude that this was a controlled risk, and therefore a reasonable use of the pilot in command's authority for deviation from the regulations. But as the FAA hires more and more inspectors who know less and less about flying, the outcomes become more random all the time. It's the ultimate "government of men, not of laws."

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[SamAdams76]

I know one rule that WAS broken. And that was the Jeep going over the speed limit. I'm sending out an email to the Florida State Police right now so that they can issue the driver of this Jeep a speeding ticket.

[ValerieUSA]

A driver and passengers in a Jeep is called a "crew"? Cool!

[HolgerDansk]

Just remember, it's R-H-I-N-O, not R-I-N-O...

[Dashing Dasher]

This has happened before....

In 1991, three men helped rescue wingwalker Lee Oman, who had slipped during an air show performance in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Michael Warren was in the bed of a pickup truck (with bolt cutters) into which Oman was lowered to safety. The truck, driven by air show pilot Bud Granley, was traveling 70 mph.