Ok, just how many gear up landings have you witnessed? Getting a little tired of people
acting like I'm some sort of moron. Aluminum rarely sparks, and in all the gearups I've
witnessed, not one caught fire.
In fact I've worked on a flightline for over 25 years, military and civilian. In that time I've
witnessed 2 fires..an F-4 engine fire and a CL-601 brake fire from a high speed taxi test. The
Phantom caught fire while airborne and the Challenger's left main gear brake seized.
ok........he had the option. he actually performed a perfect landing...except that the gfear was stuck.
now....same situation, but on the runway, considering that blacktop, or concrete, is much much more abrasive than dirt/grass, wasn't the dirt really the better choice? i mean, he most likely loaded the radiator with dirt, but other than that, airframewise, i'd think he only bent a few things(superficial, not critical).
also, dont the ponys use a gear reduction box between the engine and prop? chances are good that the prop hitting the dirt was a softer hit that if it had been hard surface, thus saving the gearbox too.
now, the same landing onm hard surface, i would imagine at his landing speed would have ground its way through the skin, possibly doing more serious damage to the underbelly internally. the prop strike would've been more damaging(i think) as it hit hard unforgiving surface.
we can't really second guess this pilot as we weren't there, and cannot say what we would've done ourselves. this guy did an excellent job in s high stress situation.
i've only ever seen 2 gear ups myself. a piper twin flown by an 87 year old man, forgot his gear till his prop tips contacted the ground....he firewalled the throttles, and did save tht one......came back around with gear down this time, but tried to do a carrier landing. the resulting bounce, and his delayed reaction, caused a stall at about 20 or so feet, and the plane ended up off the side of the runway...FUBAR'ed.
the other was a cessna 310 i think....flown by a cfi/student. i was told it did have a gear warning horn, which was working, but neither of them heeded it. that one had 2 brand new engines in it.
