Tora Bird pranged in Texas...

[Warbirdnerd]

KVUE.com

Landing gear on a World War II-era commemorative Air Force plane did not lower Friday, forcing the pilot to land on one wheel at San Marcos Municipal Airport.


City of San Marcos


The incident happened just after 2:30 p.m. San Marcos officials say no one was injured.

The plane circled the airport for about 10 minutes before making the emergency landing.

The T6 Texan aircraft, which is based out of San Marcos, had been modified to look like a Japanese Zero.

“There could not have been a better outcome to this emergency and I’d be putting the former Naval Aviator in for the Air Medal if we were still in the Navy. It was simply superb airmanship,” said Airport Manager Scott Gallagher, in a news release.

Found it here:
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/10 ... 11c9.html#

[Matt Gunsch]

all ready mentioned here
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... 42&start=0

[bluehawk15]

I mentioned this on the Lackland photo thread, but I'll repeat it here as I don't want people thinking it was a careless pilot error (which the last landing accident of this plane was).

Pat McClure was doing media rides out of Stinson on Friday when the left main got stuck about halfway. He returned to San Marcos (with a media passenger) and did a HECK of a job landing the plane. He shut the fuel off over the threshold and was albe to keep the Kate (#310) on the right main until airspeed wouldn't maintain the left wing up any longer. By this time the engine was stopped and the prop horizontal. As it settled on the left side, the gear folded up under the weight and the plane made a 90 degree turn on the runway, and skidded a short distance to a stop. This is what I was told by people who were there during the landing.

The only apparent landing damage to the plane was a slightly worn spot on the trailing outboard tip of the left aileron, the outboard aileron hinge, and the low hanging aileron trim tab bracket, as well as some fiberglass repair needed on the trailing edge of the wing tip.

It appears the stuck gear was a result of the actuator being pulled from the wing. The cause is still being looked at. This damage will be a little more difficult to repair, but it appears to be repairable. The wing will have to come off to do the repairs.

[Holedigger]

Great landing all things considered!

I would wonder if bellying in on foamed grass would be safer? Landing on one good wheel sounds like taking quite a risk of catching a wingtip and flipping. Then again, he was there, it was his call and the outcome was minimal damage and no injuries (the important thing!)

[Young Shep]

Runway was probably the safest....the terrain around KHYI isn't that grassy or smooth....

[retroaviation]

First of all, I don't know if I'd ever recommend a grass landing in a Warbird (with a problem like this), if a good runway is available. More damage can be done due to the rough ground and there is certainly a better chance of the nose of the airplane digging in and you ending up on your back.

Second, there was no way to belly the Kate in, as the right gear wouldn't retract once it had extended. As bluehawk15 said, Pat McClure did an absolutely phenominal job of keeping the damage down to an absolute minimum. He flew for over an hour to try every procedure known to man to resolve the gear situation and the configuration he landed with was the only one available to him. Once it failed, it failed.

I've been around the block with T-6s a time or two and I've never seen a gear system fail as this one did. We will surely be looking into it and learning whatever we can to keep this from happening again. But I can't stress enough that Pat did everything right!

Gary

[Nathan]

The T6 Texan aircraft, which is based out of San Marcos, had been modified to look like a Japanese Zero.

[RyanShort1]

Gary,

Whatever the case as to what exactly failed - I can say that everything looked completely normal on takeoff from Stinson...

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Sv ... 0FLvSx4oMw


See album link above for larger version



Congrats to Mr. McClure on a good landing and here's hoping 310's flying again soon.

Ryan

[retroaviation]

Thanks Ryan. I was there on Friday evening to take a quick look at the airplane and will be there again, probably in the next day or two, to help work out what exactly failed. I've got some theories, but don't want to speculate until I know for sure. It's an interesting situation for sure though. I find it amazing how we can still learn so much about these airplanes even though they've been around for as long as they have. I just love learning about this stuff!

Gary

[Django]

Sounds like Pat did a He11 of a job. <claps>

[retroaviation]

Here's Pat's personal report on the situation..........

Pilot Report:
Aircraft and owner: Commerative Air Force Kate 310
Date: 31 October 2008 approx 2:35pm
Clear skies, light wind from the SE vis 10+
Place: Flight Originated KSSF Stinson Field San Antonio, flight terminated KHYI
Purpose of Flight: Press Ride Lackland AFB airshow (not for hire)
We departed as a flight of three with subject aircraft as flight lead; we proceeded South of SSF for a photo opportunity flight for Lackland AFB personnel and an Express-News photographer. After uneventful flight and return to SSF we were cleared in for the overhead. I executed a gentle break and slowed to gear speed; at 110 KTS indicated I lowered the landing gear. The right gear lowered and locked, the left gear light, position indicator, and a visual check indicated the left gear was not in the full extended locked position per AN01-60FFA-1USAF Flight handbook. The gear handle was placed in the retract position in an attempt to recycle the gear with no response from either the right or left gear. I contacted the tower requesting to leave the pattern to the East for further attempts at recycle and to consult the check list and the POH onboard. Permission was granted to divert East of SSF. I instructed the two wingmen to recover and standby their radios for possible consultation. After following the Flight handbook procedures for gear extensions at least 6 times and several conversations with my wingmen we concurred the checklist was complete and barring any “new advice” I would plan on a slow flyby for a visual observations from both FAA Tower personnel and pilots on the ground as to the gear position. It was visually confirmed that the left gear was partially down and the right appeared to be down and locked. There was no gear movements observed from the ground as I cycled the gear on the flyby. I attempted yaw and pitch changes at various airspeeds to “free” the left gear. I made the decision to declare an emergency and land at San Marcos airport. The decision to land at San Marcos was related to their runway choices for the prevailing winds, long flat unobstructed approach, open terrain, low traffic, and my comfort level having recently practiced emergency procedures in the area. I was handed off to San Antonio approach and worked to within a few miles of HYI. I was cleared to change to Unicom frequency at San Marcos. I established radio contact with both traffic in the area and the airport manager Mr. Scott Gallagher. I was advised crews were standingby. I selected RWY 17 for the winds out of the SE, the runway condition, and the open area leading to the approach end of 17. While waiting for traffic to clear I again briefed my passenger, who was ill from the yaw and pitch changes previously on what to expect, safety landing and exiting procedures. I was able to consult with ground maint personnel by radio, reassured re-briefed the passenger on procedures for landing and exiting, consulted the checklist and followed the emergency procedures for gear malfunction again. There was no change in the gear position. I began a slow descent to a 1.5 mile final slowing to 95kts indicated and 20 degrees of flaps, which lowered normally. I moved to the far right side of RWY 17 to allow room for the aircraft to verve to the left in the event the left gear did not hold the ac up. We slowed to 85 kts with a near zero indicted rate of descent crossing the threshold of 17 in a normal attitude and altitude for a touchdown point between the threshold of 17 and the next intersection. I shut off the fuel, moved the mixture to cutoff position shut off the mags and trimmed for a dead stick landing. The aircraft slowed to 75 kts. indicated and began to settle I had the right wing down to allow the right gear to absorb the aircraft weight as much as possible, the aircraft right main tire made contact and rolled normally. I held the right wing up as the ac slowed and I applied brake, the left wing slowly began to settle and made contact with the runway, the ac slowly veered to the left where it slowed to a stop facing 90 degrees to the center line on the left side of the runway. I instructed the passenger to exit. Fire personnel were already at the ac as I exited. There was minor damage to the bottom trailing edge of the left wing tip, both aileron brackets supported the wing and were ground down by ground contact. The prop remained several inches above the ground no further landing damage was observed.
End

Last edited by retroaviation on Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[astixjr]

Glad to see things worked out relatively well. Looks like he did a great job. I'm just wondering if this might be my father's old Tora Tora Tora Kate. It was N3725G back in the mid 1970s when we owned it. My dad purchased the plane from Bob Dodson of Reno, Nevada. Anyone know?

[bluehawk15]

Not the same Kate, as far as I know. John Stokes already had this one when I joined the CAF in 1976. It was still in it's Tora! Tora! Tora! movie paint, which was silver with a red and yellow striped tail (like Kate 311 has). He had this Kate, and a Val replica.

[bluehawk15]

Oh, and it's always (since '76) been N2047.

[skymstr02]

Gary, Since this is a public forum, you may want to consider bleeping out Doug's personal information?