B-1b Lands wheels Up

[Giblets46]

In Diego Garcia the other day a B-1b landed wheels up, ther eis now a pic!

[Admin Edit: Please Post IMAGE/PICTURE related threads in this forum and try to use the attachment feature!]

 

[KGB]

That happened also sometime in 1989 or 1990. News showed footage of a b1 landing in a dry lake bed with no wheels.

 

[Siddharth]

hydraulic failure.

but i think tech is there to land even in case of hydraulic failures.

 

[Magpie2005]

b-1b skin wrinkling

Look just behind the cockpit above the wing...it looks like a significant amount of skin wrinkling.

 

[Magoo]

Look just behind the cockpit above the wing...it looks like a significant amount of skin wrinkling.

That had to hurt!

One must wonder why the crew didn't step out once they knew they couldn't get the gear down. It's not as if it's not going to be a write-off. I guess there are risks associated with jumping out of such a large aircraft, so perhaps I shouldn't second guess their decision to belly land it.

I hear the runway at Diego was closed for two days after this!!!

Magoo

 

[Magpie2005]

ejecting-too precious an airplane

There's an escape "module" that contains the crew, if I remember correctly. I'm pretty sure that if there are only 67 of these on the ENTIRE planet, there is an incentive to save at least most of the plane.

 

[Magoo]

There's an escape "module" that contains the crew, if I remember correctly.

Negatory, just four ejection seats that blow up through hatches.

I'm pretty sure that if there are only 67 of these on the ENTIRE planet, there is an incentive to save at least most of the plane.

Actually, there's about 98, of which I think 17 are mothballed at AMARC.

Magoo

 

[gf0012-aust]

There's an escape "module" that contains the crew, if I remember correctly.

IIRC the last module ejection system belonged to the F-111. One of the concerns with continuing with the F-111 is the fact that no more rocket modules can be sourced and that they have a shelf life of only 20 years. The available modules expire in 6-8 years. Apparently, building new rockets would require some greenfields engineering.

 

[Izzy1]

The original B1-A prototypes flew with an escape module that also featured 'pop-out' winglets to stabilise the module in flight.

When the Reagan Administration resurected the program in the form of the B1-B, Rockwell dropped the module idea and opted for conventional ejection seats.

 

[Giblets46]

Yeh, often aircraft that are landed wheels up can be recovered ( the Typhoon that has a nosewheel up should come back in service sooner or latter).#
If you Punch out, the the airframe is totally lost, wheels up as mentioned, much is recoverable.

Its also safer for the crew to stay with the craft in this case. Ejection often leaves them with back problems, and htey can break something if they land badly, get pneumonia if in the sea, down etc etc