Mustang Wheels Up In Melbourne, Australia

AvroAvian · **Posted:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:16 am

Bob Eastgate's Mustang VH-BOB, A68-104, made a wheels up landing today at RAAF Base Point Cook today. Both pilot, John Dorward, and passenger unhurt.
Bob has owned this aeroplane since 1970. There is a great article in the latest Flightpath magazine about Bob and his Mustang.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 208924.htm

Steve Nelson · **Posted:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:16 am

Ooch..that'll ruin your day! Glad everybody's OK. I just saw this on one of the modeling forums..apparently the pilot set the plane down in the grass, so the damage isn't too bad. Supposedly, he offered his passenger the first ride once toe plane is fixed.

SN

JägerMarty · **Posted:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:58 am

Damm, that's a shame. Hope the damage isn't too bad :idea:

Keith Gaff · **Posted:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:13 pm

Ouch indeed. The Mustang has suffered the classic damage resulting from a belly landing as can be seen in the attached picture. John Dorwood did a great job of getting the aircraft down. If you go to www.heraldsun.com.au you view the video of what was a masterful belly landing

[img][img]http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z208/kgaff_2007/mustang.jpg[/img][/img]

Robbie Roberts · **Posted:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:46 pm

Looks like she should fly again- she touched down gently enough, looks like the radiator section didn't break her back, as was common during the war... If only he'd switched off a couple seconds earlier, and saved the engine from a teardown! Might have saved 3/4 of the prop, too... Of course, I'm Monday Morning Crew Chiefing here...

Robbie

spookythecat · **Posted:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:58 pm

Light plane? Does that mean they'd consider a 172 an Ultralight?

maxum96 · **Posted:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:50 pm

Here's the wheels up landing from Youtube. I couldn't get the Australian link to work.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=s7i_ZEedHjU

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11332

Thankfully the fire department was on hand to spray highly corrosive foam onto an aircraft that wasn't on fire...

OZFURYFAN · **Posted:** Sun Apr 06, 2008 12:52 am

BDK,thats exactly what I thought too,trigger happy!!!Have seen the same thing happen where I work,you almost have to stand between them and the aircraft to prevent it,the video of the landing looked impressive,glad he cleared the edge of the tarmac though.hopefully not too long before its back in the air,cheers,Pete

FITD · **Joined:** Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:06 pm **Posts:** 48

Fear not Mustang fans, VH-BOB only had foam sprayed underneath it after its controlled arrival in the hands of John Dorward. The aircraft was soon retrieved back to its hangar area where it was given a thorough wash down.

While the aircraft has sustained damage as you would expect I am sure that Bob Eastgate, Robbie Eastgate and their team of helpers will be working to have "BOB" back in the air where it belongs as soon as possible. They have received many offers of help already.

FITD

retroaviation · **Posted:** Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:49 am

bdk wrote:

Thankfully the fire department was on hand to spray highly corrosive foam onto an aircraft that wasn't on fire...

Brandon, I don't know about "Down Under," but the foam used by most of the airport fire departments I've come in contact with (Midland, Memphis, etc.), simply use soapy water. I know the B-29/B-24 Squadron has a kick-butt hand held fire extinguisher system that shoots out nothing more than a soap and water solution. I reckon if anyone's interested in more info on that, I could start another thread about it.

Anyway, that sucks about the Mustang...but nice to know nobody was hurt.

Gary

skybolt2003 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:49 am

I wonder why the choice of grass? In light plane gear ups, like a Mooney for example, they always recommend langing on pavement vs grass to minimize the damage. Obviously the landing speed is lower (this landing seemed hot to me - just my perception maybe?)and the -51 has the radiator to contend with. A lot of times the most damage comes when the recovery crew tries to rush to re-open a runway, so maybe that's why the choice was made? Just wondering from those who know if grass is SOP with gear TU.

Nathan · **Posted:** Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:08 am

The passenger seemed quite happy about the crash! :shock:

Robbie Roberts · **Posted:** Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:55 am

skybolt2003 wrote:

I wonder why the choice of grass? In light plane gear ups, like a Mooney for example, they always recommend langing on pavement vs grass to minimize the damage. Obviously the landing speed is lower (this landing seemed hot to me - just my perception maybe?)and the -51 has the radiator to contend with. A lot of times the most damage comes when the recovery crew tries to rush to re-open a runway, so maybe that's why the choice was made? Just wondering from those who know if grass is SOP with gear TU.

Gotta remember relative landing speeds- A Mooney lands at what- 60 to 80 kts, and a Mustang stalls at a little over 100... The proper landing speed for a Mustang belly landing(IAW AAF-Man 51-127-5, Pg. 80) is 120-130mph. The same manual recommends a hard surface landing, but I imagine the grass section was sufficiently hard, as the belly did not dig in. He should have cut switches just before impact- and it appears he did. Only thing I did not notice him do was to jettison the canopy(or bombs and wing tanks...lol...) Reviewing his procedure against the manual, it was a "textbook belly landing".

Robbie

n5151ts · **Posted:** Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:34 am

he didnt lift up the floor board and pull the cable with his on board channel lock pliers?

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Mustang Wheels Up In Melbourne, Australia

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