Right Main, Where Are You? - military air pilot's problems with landing - Brief Article

Approach, Dec, 2000 by Ben Wild

I visualized ejecting from a cartwheeling jet and decided it would be best for me to make a good landing

Unlike most of the events recounted in this magazine, mine happened during daytime, not at the boat, and VMC. In fact, the nearest cloud was somewhere down by Ensenada, Mexico. If I was ever going to have an emergency, this was the perfect day for it. The only thing out of the ordinary was that the right runway was out of service, and the normal off-duty was the emergency runway.

I was returning to base after a 1 v 1 with our new pilot-training officer. We were overhead the field with 2,700 pounds of fuel (per our single runway bingo). At the 135, I declared, "Gear in transit, full stop." I received clearance to land on 24 left, but at the 90, I noticed the first step of the landing checklist wasn't complete. There were down-and-locked indications for the nosewheel and left main, but no indications for the right main, and an annoying gear-warning tone in my headset.

I keyed the mike and asked my wingman to check out my gear. I requested the delta pattern for a gear problem, and transitioned to a 2,600-foot pattern to work the issue. My wingman joined up quickly and told me the right main was up, and the right gear doors were cracked open about an inch. We switched to base frequency and told the ODO about the problem. He read off the procedures, and I acknowledged completion. While I was trying to shake the gear down by using positive and negative G, tower called to say that I had to stay at delta-pattern altitude. At my wingman's suggestion, I told tower that I was going to declare an emergency instead.

I finished the NATOPS procedures. The right main was still not doing what I wanted it to do, fuel was running low (1,500 pounds), and I began to realize I was going to have to land with two-thirds of the desired gear package. I visualized ejecting from a cartwheeling jet and decided it would be best for me to make a good landing.

The ODO and I discussed the landing procedures, which included a cushioned landing flown to centerline and an arrestment. Well, I knew the cushioned landing would be no problem, since that's what I do every time I land at good old NKX. I still remembered where the hook handle was, even though I had not used it since the FRS. The squadron's lone LSO was in the pits and told me to follow those procedures.

I lowered the seat, removed my kneeboard, and told tower that I would like a low approach, followed by an arrested landing. Tower cleared me for the approach, and then asked if I could accept a go-around for landing traffic. I was down to 1,200 pounds of fuel, but being the nice guy that I am, I accepted. (God forbid I should be the one to force a divert to the paradise of El Centro.) After the go-around, I decided I better make this one a full stop if I wanted any gas at all for a hook skip and another try. My state was 850 pounds. At the 135, tower cleared me to land and asked me to call the gear. After a brief pause, I said, "Roger, two down and looked, full stop, arrested landing."

I deck-spotted like an LSO's worst nightmare and cushioned the landing for all I was worth. As the hook engaged the wire, I countered the right yaw with rudder and kept the right wing off the deck for as long as I could. Once the wingtip hit the deck, the nose quickly began to track right, and I applied left brakes to try to keep it straight. Next thing I knew, the jet was at rest, surrounded by the crash crew. "Base, I'm safe on deck," I said. I secured the engines and waited for the crash Marines to let me know it was safe to exit.

I exited on the right side, since it was much closer to the ground, and surveyed the damage. The missile launcher and the trailing edges of the flaps and aileron took most of the damage. There was a one-inch gouge on the right stab, but other than that, the aircraft was undamaged.

After discussing the incident with several of my squadronmates, I came up with some things I could have done better. I could have saved some distracting comm time by declaring an emergency immediately, after determining that the gear was not down and locked. I never should have accepted the go-around with a low-fuel state. The other sections should have planned for a divert if necessary, and I didn't need to compound the situation by running low on gas. Also, after landing, I noticed that one of my leg straps had slid down below my knee when I removed my kneeboard.

Two things really helped: adhering to a single runway bingo and getting help from my wingman and the ODO.

Capt. Wild flies with VMFA-232.