Not a great start to summer

[Rino]

     Diamond Lil had a little mishap at Charlotte while visiting the Carolinas Aviation Museum.  Fortunately no one was hurt, but a B-24
gear failure has got to be expensive 

http://charlotte.news14.com/content/local_news/658039/wwii-aircraft-crashes-at-charlotte-airport--none-of-16-on-board-injured

     I suppose it could have been worse, Fifi is here too.

[Tupac]

Looks like the mains came down, but the nose gear failed. If the props didn't hit, it could be (relatively) inexpensive and quick to fix. If the props did hit, that plane probably won't fly for a long time. They would have to replace all 4 props, and at the very least tear down and inspect all 4 engines.

[F22RaptorDude]

Looks like the mains came down, but the nose gear failed. If the props didn't hit, it could be (relatively) inexpensive and quick to fix. If the props did hit, that plane probably won't fly for a long time. They would have to replace all 4 props, and at the very least tear down and inspect all 4 engines.

Looked like they were to high up to have been damaged, might be wrong, what do I know about planes 

[Tupac]

Looked like they were to high up to have been damaged, might be wrong, what do I know about planes 

I'm on my phone, but from the screenshot I can see it looks like you're right.

[CAP1]

ya know? i wanna line up every single news person, in a line, and walk down that line with my hand out slapping every one of the morons.

 it WA NOT a crash.  $^%&%$##$

[Seanaldinho]

I dont  think they had a prop strike. If they managed to keep the wings level which it appears they did then they wouldnt have hit them. Now had one wing tipped over they may have struck either the #1 or the #4. Hard to tell from the picture though.

[CAP1]

I dont  think they had a prop strike. If they managed to keep the wings level which it appears they did then they wouldnt have hit them. Now had one wing tipped over they may have struck either the #1 or the #4. Hard to tell from the picture though.

 considering that it was only a nose gear failure, on a tricycle geared plane, and up until it came time to let the nose settle on the ground, it was a normal landing.....so it would stand to reason that they kept her level.

[Seanaldinho]

considering that it was only a nose gear failure, on a tricycle geared plane, and up until it came time to let the nose settle on the ground, it was a normal landing.....so it would stand to reason that they kept her level.

That was my thought process but wierder things have happened.

[1sum41]

This happened in Georgetown (KGTU) last week. nose gear wouldn't come down.

 
(not me in the picture)

[Tupac]

This happened in Georgetown (KGTU) last week. nose gear wouldn't come down.
(Image removed from quote.)
 
(not me in the picture)

I have thought for awhile now it is the destiny of all RG Cessna singles to go out in a glorious gear-up landing.

[1sum41]

I have thought for awhile now it is the destiny of all RG Cessna singles to go out in a glorious gear-up landing.

just one of those gear doors is 4500$ its crazy man.

[Tupac]

Looks like the prop isn't bent, which means he shut it down in flight. Poor choice IMO, always leave yourself an out.

[eagl]

Looks like the prop isn't bent, which means he shut it down in flight. Poor choice IMO, always leave yourself an out.

Meh...  I'll have to quibble with this application of that particular rule of thumb.  If the landing is assured, shutting down the motor may not add much risk while offering a complete save on the motor and prop if the prop stops horizontally.  Shutting the motor off if a prop strike is imminent is standard procedure in the T-6, even though the prop may keep freewheeling.  It also reduces the chance of parts coming off and doing more damage, or additional structural damage occurring from the torque on the motor mount.

Still, the key there is "landing assured".  My personal gameplan for that sort of thing is to set up for landing on a long runway and set up for a slightly fast final with a conservatively long aimpoint, and shut down the motor on short final.  That should give the motor plenty of time to spin down as slow as it's going to go, while giving me the ability to shift my aimpoint if the prop doesn't feather for some reason and I start slowing down faster than expected.  If it feathers, then I can touch down anywhere on the runway as long as I have about 1000 ft remaining to skid to a stop.

Also, in a civilian application I might even elect for a motor running bounce and go to see if I can get the nosegear to drop, depending on the mechanical design of the system.  Some planes are built so the landing gear can lock down from gravity and airflow assist alone, if you can just get them to unlock.  So a good thumping touch and go might do the trick   Especially if I happened to own the aircraft.  If it's someone else's plane, I'll comply with the flight manual and let the insurance company pay out, unless the owner instructs me to do something differently in front of witnesses 

[Rino]

     One of the more interesting "gear up" landings I saw was when a C-177RG actually lost his nosewheel just before touchdown.
That had to be a bad feeling for the pilot.  Gear showing down and locked, then the nose starts dropping further than it should,

     He shaved the strut down about 6 inches and they had to stuff a dolly under it to tow it back to the ramp.  Oh yeah, they found the
wheel next to the runway.  It turns out that only one locknut held the wheel onto the strut, and somehow it failed/worked loose.

     For some reason KMMU was a gear failure mecca for a few years.  I must have seen 12-15 of them.  The most spectacular was a
Beechjet that had a crew induced gear up landing.  They powered up and took off again, then deployed the gear and landed.  That was
bad enough, but they didn't tell anyone at the airport or the FAA.  They got bagged after an operations vehicle spotted the remains of the
antenna and vent tubes on the runway.  The FAA found out when the mechanic asked for a ferry permit to fly the bird back to Detroit and
couldn't answer when they asked why.

[colmbo]

They would have to replace all 4 props, and at the very least tear down and inspect all 4 engines.

If you want an exercise in futility find the FAR that says the engine has to be torn down after a prop strike (Part 91 operation).

We had a prop strike on the B-17 after it ran over a runway/taxiway sign -- you know the big black and yellow ones.  We checked the crank for misalignment and showed the FAA it was in specs --- good to go.