C-17 Belly Landing

[Ivan]

Wheels safely up in at least one of the maingear closeups.

About losing the gear doors... they tend to snag on runway bumps.

And in damage its just a few scratches... nothing big looks damaged and the main areas hit are the underfloor open spaces... might be some wiring and pipes in there but nothing too expensive

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

Go to this site to see several photos of the C-17.
http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2009/02/09 ... am-images/

Interesting set of pictures. Also some valid points in the blog too. GPWS and config alarm, flaps down and close to the ground. Lots of questions and very thin on the answers. I am thinking that as the Air Force are not pushing that it was an IFE now that the pictures are in the public domain that there are a couple of pilots, to use a line from a well know film, who will be flying plane loads of rubber dog turds out of Hong Kong for a living

Matt

Well....now that those are out.

When the flaps are passed a certain point, the voice gives you a count down to the runway, but from the photo as you can see the gear handle on the Co Pilots side, does glow red after a while. After all in that config, the planes computer thinks you are landing, so it would not tell you "pull up, terrain"

[expat]

Go to this site to see several photos of the C-17.
http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2009/02/09 ... am-images/

Interesting set of pictures. Also some valid points in the blog too. GPWS and config alarm, flaps down and close to the ground. Lots of questions and very thin on the answers. I am thinking that as the Air Force are not pushing that it was an IFE now that the pictures are in the public domain that there are a couple of pilots, to use a line from a well know film, who will be flying plane loads of rubber dog turds out of Hong Kong for a living

Matt

Well....now that those are out.

When the flaps are passed a certain point, the voice gives you a count down to the runway, but from the photo as you can see the gear handle on the Co Pilots side, does glow red after a while. After all in that config, the planes computer thinks you are landing, so it would not tell you "pull up, terrain"

Why would the system monitor all the above and not the gear position. Even a 737-300 will scream Gear to you with flaps out at a certain hight

Matt

[DaveSims]

Perhaps one gear wouldn't lower and the pilot opted to land with the gear retracted.

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

Why would the system monitor all the above and not the gear position. Even a 737-300 will scream Gear to you with flaps out at a certain hight

Matt

Remember this is a military aircraft designed to fly low and slow if it needed to. You really would not want the plane always screaming "Check GEAR! Check Gear!" every time you had to do low level passes, or sneak into a LZ at night while fling below 1000ft..(which is how they train almost every other day), I think that is why the gear handle just glows red when you are that point, to remind the Co Pilot "that if you decide to land, you may want this down for best results" C-130 also train like this too.

And also since McDonald Douglass Original made the C-17, there is no telling what there engineers were thinking, before the "merger" with Boeing.

[porky310]

Well for you guys who are curious about that C-17 I have some news. I am a SSGT aircraft mechanic deployed to Bagram Airfield. I witnessed the C17 belly in that night and also assited in removing the aircraft from the runway. It has been determined aircrew error. The pilots forgot to put the gear handle down. After we were able to lift the aircraft and put jacks underneath and place the gear handle in the down postion the gear came down and locked. Im not sure the accident report is out yet, but thats the news I have for you.

[expat]

Well for you guys who are curious about that C-17 I have some news. I am a SSGT aircraft mechanic deployed to Bagram Airfield. I witnessed the C17 belly in that night and also assited in removing the aircraft from the runway. It has been determined aircrew error. The pilots forgot to put the gear handle down. After we were able to lift the aircraft and put jacks underneath and place the gear handle in the down postion the gear came down and locked. Im not sure the accident report is out yet, but thats the news I have for you.

Not so often we get such a definitive accident report that is first hand
What was the damage to the aircraft like. I take it she slid quite a way before coming to a stop.

Matt

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

Well for you guys who are curious about that C-17 I have some news. I am a SSGT aircraft mechanic deployed to Bagram Airfield. I witnessed the C17 belly in that night and also assisted in removing the aircraft from the runway. It has been determined aircrew error. The pilots forgot to put the gear handle down. After we were able to lift the aircraft and put jacks underneath and place the gear handle in the down position the gear came down and locked. Im not sure the accident report is out yet, but that's the news I have for you.

We figured as much, but we figured you would give the aircrew the benefit of the dought.

[Thumper04]

Well for you guys who are curious about that C-17 I have some news. I am a SSGT aircraft mechanic deployed to Bagram Airfield. I witnessed the C17 belly in that night and also assisted in removing the aircraft from the runway. It has been determined aircrew error. The pilots forgot to put the gear handle down. After we were able to lift the aircraft and put jacks underneath and place the gear handle in the down position the gear came down and locked. Im not sure the accident report is out yet, but that's the news I have for you.

We figured as much, but we figured you would give the aircrew the benefit of the dought.

I would have figured that any NCO ought to know better than to release his opinions before the AIB made a conclusion and released their report. Whether or not that's what happened, it is most certainly not his place to be announcing it as fact on a public forum. Pretty sure anyone who's ever been involved in an AIB should know that.

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

Well for you guys who are curious about that C-17 I have some news. I am a SSGT aircraft mechanic deployed to Bagram Airfield. I witnessed the C17 belly in that night and also assisted in removing the aircraft from the runway. It has been determined aircrew error. The pilots forgot to put the gear handle down. After we were able to lift the aircraft and put jacks underneath and place the gear handle in the down position the gear came down and locked. Im not sure the accident report is out yet, but that's the news I have for you.

We figured as much, but we figured you would give the aircrew the benefit of the dought.

I would have figured that any NCO ought to know better than to release his opinions before the AIB made a conclusion and released their report. Whether or not that's what happened, it is most certainly not his place to be announcing it as fact on a public forum. Pretty sure anyone who's ever been involved in an AIB should know that.