Gear-up landing the MiG

[Ivan]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 6200&q=mig

Deliberate gear up landing for an airshow.

[C]

Deliberate gear up landing for an airshow.

Really? That would be a very expensive and dangerous stunt to pull off at an airshow... Then again after the non existant airshow safety that surrounded the Su-27 (?) crash in the Ukraine (?) a couple of years ago, nothing would surprise me...

My bets would be: a test of some description, hence the footage...

...or: the pilot trying to put on a show for said cameras, trying to be a bit too "punchy" ("punchyness" is a big thing in the fast jet world) by raising his gear as soon as the microswitch would allow it, sinking back to the deck, realising he'd made a balls up, and deciding that his bobsleigh impression was probably the best way forward...

[Mobius]

That would be tremendously damaging for an airplane, and I highly doubt it would be done for an airshow as it would probably damage the runway as well.  Once the airplane stopped, how would they get it off the runway so they could continue to use it.  

It also says in the caption on the right, that it is a MiG-29 "crash".  It is a good find though, I've certainly never seen anything like it before.

[Ivan]

They did the same with a Su-27 in 2004 or so. Jacked it up with a crane and it was flying the next day. At that one they actually did a normal takeoff before ding a belly landing... as you can't pull it thorugh the lift whitout messing up the tail (Or it was a Su-35 which has a shorter tail spike)

[Craig.]

...or: the pilot trying to put on a show for said cameras, trying to be a bit too "punchy" ("punchyness" is a big thing in the fast jet world) by raising his gear as soon as the microswitch would allow it, sinking back to the deck, realising he'd made a balls up, and deciding that his bobsleigh impression was probably the best way forward...

Thats the one I would put my money on.
He wasn't landing thats for sure.

[SilverFox441]

Charlie got it right.

Attempted high performance take-off with the gear handle in the retract position. The aircraft can be seen to rotate. It probably bounced and this allowed to weight-on-wheels switch to release and gear retraction to start. The gear geometry of the MiG-29 allows to gear to fold (common to many fighters) and we have a toboggan.

Ivan, if the Russian Air Force ever cleared a plane for flight in less than a week after an instance like this then they are grossly irresponsible. Minimum is a dual engine replacement (for FOD inspection) and a very thorough inspection of the nacelles and forward fuselage damage areas. I took part in a safety-of-flight inspection on a T-33 that folded it's nose gear during an engine run-up, it took almost 2 weeks.

[Ivan]

FOD isn't an issue... main intakes closed when gear is in 'ground' mode. Sucks air in from above. You can see a short white flash in one of the intakes... that's the anti-FOD door.

[Mobius]

The FOD doors work along the same weight-on-wheels principle as the gear so they would open once the gear is retracted (I think ).  ;)

[SilverFox441]

Congrats to Mobius!

Yes, indeed...once the plane thought it was flying the FOD doors would have opened. It wouldn't matter anyway, with the aircraft in an unusual attitude (on belly) the upper doors would be available to FOD that wouldn't normally reach them.

Of course, those AB cans are going to be trashed. The engines can get a FOD teardown while in Engine Bay for can repacement.

[cheesegrater]

Thats how great Russian aircraft are. You can belly land, jack up the plane with a crane, and then fly the next day while Western aircraft would need months of repair.

[Chris_F]

Well, I'm sure you could belly land a Western airplane and have it flying the next day, but why would you want to?  Given how much an airplane costs, not to mention the value of the human life in the cockpit, I'd think you'd want to do due dilligence after such an incident.  That's not to say the plane won't fly within hours, just that it may not fly.  It's the "may not" part that gets 'ya.

But the Ruski's seem to have different safety standards than we Westerners are used to, witness the already mentioned airshow crash and resulting body count.  I wouldn't doubt they'd be willing to slap a fresh coat of paint on a belly landed plane and send it up the next day.  After all, they managed to melt down a perfectly good nuclear reactor during a "test".  If they're willing to kill off a couple hundred thousand citizens and render an entire city uninhabitable in the name of slightly increased electrical output then surely they're willing to risk a single pilot and plane just so they can claim their aircraft are indestructable.

[beefhole]

Well that wasn't overly scathing or liable to lead to a flame war at all...

[cheesegrater]

The Russians are safe!

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0995911/M/

[Chris_F]

The Russians are safe!

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0995911/M/

That guys landing a little long, don't you think?

[Mobius]

Nah.....it's an amphibious version.