A perfect Crash Landing

[ballaratdragons]

An F-111 has just made a perfect belly-flop crash landing at Amberley Air Force Base.

The F-111 is now over 40 years old and has had its problems but nice to see the pilot brought this one in safely.

It was good watching it (live) and see him land it so smoothly (sort of). A few sparks and flame but all went well. Well done :thumbsup:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=114974

[Striker]

Just watched it live on channel 9.

Nice landing but how about the shots from the helicopter...they were 15km's away...pretty impressive keeping the shot steady over that distance....must have a lowepro tripod fitted to the helicopter...lol

There all fine.

[ballaratdragons]

Yes Tony, the Camera work from the Helicopter was rock solid. No mean feat at 15k away!!!

[JohnG]

They no doubt had TV/FLIR on a stabalised mounting, we used them all the time for Helo SAR work and surveilance.

JohnG

[iceman]

Where do I see the videos?

[Striker]

On the news tonight Mike.
Channel 9

[RB]

Sure it wasn't Steve bringing back the Mig in disguise? :confuse3:

[ving]

theres a link on page ken has liked us to mike...

great peice of flying :)

[acropolite]

Excellent flying and a credit to our services that they were able to successfully recover the aircraft. To be fair, although the F111 is dated, like all aircraft, it is only as old as it's last service, all parts of the airframe have a service life and are regularly inspected and replaced or repaired if necessary. If I had to put money on the cause of the wheel failure it would most likely be on human error, something not tightened or locked at the last service.

[Lee]

Yup.... I bet there are a few LAC Airframe techos sweating tonight - who serviced that landing gear last! :doh:

[sheeny]

Thanks for posting! I missed the 9 news but view the video on the above link. ABC had much closer footage on their news at 7.

Al.

[iceman]

The ABC website has a better video than the ninemsn one. Great footage and nice landing!

[jjjnettie]

The pilot who landed her was only 22 years old.

[GTB_an_Owl]

bet he is a little bit older NOW!

[johnno]

Having NEVER,been up in an Aircraft,it would have Aged me,no Doubt,
AND,I dont need any more ageing.

Just the same,WELL DONE,by the young Pilot.

Regards.
John

[Sausageman]

I work at Amberley and was there for the event.
I now have some photo's of the F111 landing.
They are all over 100kb
Can I post them here?

Mike

[Sausageman]

By the way, the wheel was changed the night before the flight, and I think 3 people are in deep do do's.
You would be right Phil about Human error, from what information I have gleaned, it was a locking ring that wasn't fitted correctly.
The wheel travelled over a kilometre before hitting a car parked next to an office building. Thank God that no-one was hurt.

Mike

[ballaratdragons]

Mike, if you can't knock the pics down to regulation size for in here, just post a link to the full size pics :thumbsup:

The wheel travelled over 1k!!! Wow, I'd hate to be in the way!!!!

[Sausageman]

Here is the first one then.

[Sausageman]

The second photo

[Sausageman]

The third one

[Sausageman]

I think I've got the hang of this now.
here are the last two.
I have 4 more at work that I will post next week.
These are not my photos, They are being distributed via the RAAF Intranet.

Mike

[Sausageman]

That was one really cool pilot, He had only been qualified to fly the F111 two weeks ago.
BTW, he was carrying a bomb when he took off, but came back without it.
OMG where did he drop it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

[mojo]

The ABC News video of the "landing" is still on their VOD page in their "News stories from the past 24 hours".
http://www.abc.net.au/vod/news/

[Astroman]

a mate of mine who works for the DSTO here in Adelaide sent me the same pics, awesome stuff, love that first one, low fly-by :P

[rowena]

Great Pics!!! I _love_ that first image!!!!! You so need to get that one blown up and framed!!!! Impressive!

[Sausageman]

It's amazing how many people at work have some of these photo's as a background now.
I do....
The Pilot deserves a medal for saving that aircraft. it will need some work but will be back in the air.
I love the F111, there is no other plane that can do it's job. No others have the speed, range or capability. IMHO we should be buying the ones that are stored in the desert in the USA, not spending money on a pipe dream such as the JSF. There are many brand new F111's, built for the first Gulf War just sitting there.

Mike

[Astroman]

JSF URK NOOOOOO!!!!!! Too many things to go wrong.... F-111's all the way, I agree, awesome A/C, Massive firepower. And they sound cool too. Bring back the Mirage too :P