This video was shot on Dec 14th after a hydraulic line failure in our 404 Titan forced us to make an emergency landing with the gear up. The emergency blow down bottle had a valve malfunction as well so there was no option available from that point on other than to find a place to sit it down. At the end of the slide down the runway there was a small fire on-board which I extinguished before exiting the aircraft with my crew member closely on my six." TitanMan404/Youtube (www.youtube.com) 更多...
Very nicely done amigo! Awesome control through that landing! After spending many, many hours piloting a 421-C model, it was interesting to see out of the back windows how the louvers on the engine cowls of that 404 Titan resemble those of the GTSIO-520's that I was so used to seeing all those years ago! I had one engine disintegrate on me once in my 421 days as I was climbing out over some mountains but the other blender on the opposite side brought us back safely and uneventfully! Again, great work and great piloting my friend!
Great job pic !!. I wonder why the bottle/valve hung up? As a corp. pilot myself, that would bug me more than the need to set her down like that. Think maybe freezing temps did it?
It is rare to have to use the blow down bottle or any other type of emergency gear extension system. Quite often, things that are not exercised, do not work well. Maintenance records will show history of blow down system checks or the lack of. Happy to see only bent metal on this one and everyone safely walking away, which is usually the case with gear up landings. Great video. Dug
AS already stated, thanks for sharing and giving the rest of us the full perspective. Now, if it ever happens to me I'll be better prepared for what to expect from the sights and sounds and be able to concentrate on flying the airplane and hopefully making as good an approach and landing as you did. Great job!!
As someone much wiser than me once said: A gear-up landing is an emergency landing. An engine-out landing is an emergency landing. Why would you ever want to add a second emergency to the one you already have? The moment that you have a major problem the airplane belongs to the insurance company. Your job is to use the insurance company's airplane to keep everyone as safe as possible. The deductable payment will be the same with or without new props and engines.
Great point about the insurance company money..Do what you have to! I had an engine out 2 wingspans high and subsequent off airport landing on a C421-A with 520'd's Smooth landing at 107mph touchdown but bad fire as fuel drains leaked fuel for full 1/3 mile skid on dry brown grass field. All 6 made it out but burned from outside fire. Thus the new saying goes "any landing you can walk or in this case run away from is still a good landing" Good job with the C404 boys!