NASA WB-57 N927NA gear up landing (01/27/26)

[BK]

NASA WB-57 N927NA made a gear up landing in Houston today. Crew is fine, it was a textbook belly landing. https://youtu.be/wHIFc_rsN6I?si=mC0lTFwcYCPcij9B

[Chris Brame]

That's a shame. Hope it can/will be repaired...

[JohnB]

It will come down to how badly NASA needs it.
Any similar airframes at DM (or Pima for that matter)?

[Thomas_Mac]

It will come down to how badly NASA needs it.
Any similar airframes at DM (or Pima for that matter)?

Theres 11 at AMARG according to the inventory
https://www.amarcexperience.com/ui/inde ... Itemid=274

Can see 9 of them in a group on Google Maps
https://maps.app.goo.gl/mBdR7BsKNvHAq9uE6

[JohnB]

I would expect they'd want one of the 3 large wing examples.
But if the just need repair parts, perhaps one of the "B" s couple provide them.

I'm surprised they haven't scrapped the small wing aircraft...they've been retired for about 45 years.
Famously, one of them enroute to D-M had a dual engine loss enroute at crashed at the SLC civil airport. The crew ejected safely. One story is the aircraft crashed into a warehouse under surveillance by the FBI for something, they might have it on tape.

I wonder what structural condition the large wing ships are in. Back in the day it was reported they were fragile. I heard once that they were not supposed to have snow accumulate on them so not to stress the wings.
Anyone else ever hear that?

[Cubs2jets]

First off, GREAT JOB of landing with a gear malfunction. True professional pilot.

Seems to me I remember that NASA / Ellington has 2 flying WB-57's (well, now 1). One arrived in the last two years after extensive overhaul. If they are mission critical birds, this will put things in a bind.

I hope the damage is not a whole lot more than sheetmetal.

C2j

[Pogo]

OT I know, but what is this...?

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.1719083 ... FQAw%3D%3D

[Paul Stroud]

OT I know, but what is this...?

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.1719083 ... FQAw%3D%3D

That's a Boeing YC-14, seen here in 1990

Boeing YC-14 72-1874 by Paul Stroud, on Flickr

as was the WB-57 involved in the belly landing

USAF WB-57F Canberra 63-13295 by Paul Stroud, on Flickr

[Paul Stroud]

Duplicate post

[CAPFlyer]

NASA has 3 WB-57s currently. All were recently massively overhauled/updated/modified by Sierra Nevada Corporation in Denver over the past few years. They are essentially new-build aircraft afterward. The bellies were significantly modified to create a larger (wider) equipment bay. The new bay is essentially flat on the bottom and that's what the plane landed on. Damage (from initial assesment) seems to be mostly to that area and thus it'll likely be mainly skin replacement and may be some of the frames, all of which were recently made, so tooling to build new ones is on hand.

The only problem is that the other 2 aircraft are in planned maintenance/overhaul periods so its likely none will be available for Artemis II's launch.

Other than that, the plane will be fixed. There's no reason to think otherwise as there's no evidence that there's any extreme damage. The fact it slid for a long time means it landed soft, which limits the crushing damage.

[JohnB]

If one overlooks the fact that they were converted to "F" standard in 1963 by General Dynamics (they are list as GD WB-57s in most sources), these are the last Martin-built aircraft flying...unless there is a 404 out there.