There have been two gear-ups in B-1's in the last six months or so. One unintentional in Dodge and one intentional (UAE maybe or some other Arab garden spot). The first was VERY unintentional from my sources, the second I saw in AV week and was supposed to be intentional
There have been two gear-ups in B-1's in the last six months or so. One unintentional in Dodge and one intentional (UAE maybe or some other Arab garden spot). The first was VERY unintentional from my sources, the second I saw in AV week and was supposed to be intentional
Intentional for what reason? Inquiring minds want to know......![]()
Im with Flash on this one. I also wanna know after talking with an old hand B-1 driver when the Air Force changed SOB on bringing a Bone in gear up. His comment when I sent him the site was essentially "We didnt do that in my day. If you cant get the gear down you pull the yellow handle and hope your luck improves on things working properly." Then again it might have to do with the fact that he was flying the Bone when its job discription involved mushroom clouds.
Seems kind of silly to sh!t-can a jet for that reason, unless it's specific characteristics cause it to become squirrelly while skidding. Most aircraft will land quite nicely (all things considered) with their gear up and the damage usually isn't that extensive.
Brett
Those pics of the MC-130 are priceless.And the Bone guy I talked to yesterday, says they do it gear up, if it meets certain criteria.
pdx said:I am guessing it has more to do with AF training and logic developed by fighter pilots for fighter pilots.
Its interesting to compare the percentages of 1LTs and Captains flying fighters in the AF to the number of Generals that came from those communities.
On the B-1 pics it looks like the slats and flaps are extended. Don't most fix-wing aircraft have some type of warning system when the airplane isn't properly configured for landing?
Not trying to compare the two, but the company I work for owns a fleet of Lear 25's. Well, back in October the chief pilot & a young shaved tail landed gear up at Sacramento. The two of them became distracted by another aircraft in the pattern and the co-pilot failed to respond to the chief pilot's "gear down" command. The fact that the chief pilot had the maintenance chief disable the warning buzzer two months earlier didn't help either.![]()