Student Pilot Gets Landing Gear Unstuck With Stick
Student pilot Kenneth Barrett got a lesson in how to perform a rare emergency procedure Friday. While flying with his CFI, Jason Messenger, out of the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport in Florida, the landing gear on the rented Cessna 172RG got stuck.
After about an hour of go-arounds, with emergency crews standing by, officials on the ground decided somebody had to take a look. Epic Aviation president Danny Perna drove a jeep very fast down the runway with two passengers as the Cessna flew at an elevation of about 10 feet AGL.
They decided to take a stick and try to pull the gear down while Messenger made another low pass over the runway. The trick worked! Here’s video.
I’m sorry, but as both a mechanic and a pilot, people that run underneath an airplane in a vehicle trying to do what is depicted in this video are taking an unnecessary risk with their lives. I’ve seen this type of failure in a 172RG before. The spline on the pinion for the landing gear develops a crack which eventually will break, leaving the actuator disconnected from the pinion. Early warning signs that there is a crack forming is hydraulic fluid washing grease out of the actuator gearbox and/or the brake going “flat” on that side. This comes from the passage for the brake fluid passing through the pinion leaking into the gearbox. It is hard to tell how often a problem like this will go from a crack to a failure if undetected, but if it does fail, it is not worth the risk to several lives to try to save the aircraft. About all that was achieved was to give the news people some great footage about a “life and death” situation. It could have easily developed into a disaster had that propeller clipped the Jeep or someone was knocked out of the vehicle. If anyone reading this ever finds themselves in a similar situation with a retractable Cessna, don’t let anyone on the ground talk you into attempting this. The airplane has failed. Repairing it is what insurance is for. And from seeing a couple of gear up landings in my time, the airframe damage will be minimal if you let it down gently. Of course, the prop will be destroyed and the engine will need a teardown, but that is a small price to pay compared to what could happen. Be safe. Learn from the mistakes of others, and this certainly was a mistake. They just happened to have a happy ending. This time….
Ah, there is always a naysayer. This country would not be as great as it is today if there were not these sorts of heros that got this gear safely down. Americans are successful due to this great sense of adventure. It was a success and such successful ventures must cause great distress for idiots who have to bad mouth any one with any spirit.
Great job. Well done.
All I can say is I would do it again. And it sure is hard to detect the crack in the actuator when it happend the morning of the incident.
Had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago in a 172RG. We were able to slow the plane to 40KTS & use the towbar to “grab” the gear, & then pull it into place. That got us a green light, & we landed safely. (Gearbox cracked & right main never came all the way down). Not the safest maneuver either, but it was a new engine & paint job…
As for pacing a plane in a car… all I can say is I’m glad there was a happy outcome. (Looks about as stupid as someone leaning out of a moving aircraft with towbar in hand :-)