B29 Fifi blows at least one tire on landing in olympia

p51 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:25 pm

I'm typing this from my phone, but the CAFs B29 had real problems landing on the Friday afternoon flight. They blew one tire in the nose for certain and I heard the crew later referring to tires, as in more than one. It was still sitting at the end of the runway when I left.
I will post more info and some photos I took of the landing as soon as I can...

p51 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:58 pm

p51 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 13, 2014 11:03 pm

snj-5 · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 1:23 am

When we landed, the ATIS said "disabled aircraft on taxiway x" (forget the taxiway letter now).
Winds were "interesting" when we landed (15 or so knots gusting to 22+ knots)

We heard one tire blown, another one flat-spotted. There was talk about trying to get replacement
tires from the B-29 at the Museum of Flight, but I don't know any of the details about that.

To my knowledge, the B-29 is still sitting at the south end of the field.

Steve Nelson · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 5:11 am

That sucks, but thank goodness no one was hurt and the aircraft wasn't damaged. Kudos to the crew for getting her down and stopped in one piece.

SN

Ztex · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:11 am

The scoop is this... The had a bit of wind shear on landing and blew A tire... Nothing more nefarious than that... Lol.
All's good with the airplane. If anyone has a spare tire in their pocket... :wink:

Ken · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:25 am

It's so much harder to interpret meaning through an internet post vs a face to face conversation, but I'm getting a tense vibe from the phrases such the "airplane is stuck on the runway" and they're "down for the weekend". Maybe it was the "shock" face :shock:

If tire or tires were blown, be it due to winds, wear, mechanical malady, or pilot error, that's something to be expected ... as no one maintains (or should expect to maintain) a 100% perfection stat at all times. The fact that the airplane is "stuck" indicates to me that the crew wisely stopped taxi in order to prevent any further damage and that either jacks for an in-place tire change or a unique tow rig may be required. As far as being grounded for days; spare tires are likely far away. The situation might be no different if, for example, a modern day Russian airplane landed at an off-line airport and had a tire fail.

It's a shame they may have to cancel part of their weekend plan and that they may be scratching their heads to identify why this happened and how not to repeat it, otherwise this doesn't sound like something that requires frequent updates, IMHO.

Ken

daviemax · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:57 am

Upon review of the photos generously supplied by P51: judging from the rudder position (hard left) and aileron position (right wing down) coupled with the actual right wing-down position, it appears she was being side-slipped into a crosswind that may have gusted on late final. While this is a normal maneuver, in so large an aircraft the forces are such that it would be easy, IMHO, to make a hard landing, possibly leading to tire damage (or worse). Tires are replaceable, hopefully that is all the damage done. The flight crew appears to have done well as it is, although perhaps a go-around was called for, but the PIC had to make a decision and live with it. Fortunately the aircraft is essentially intact and no one was injured.

Craig59 · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:49 am

daviemax wrote:

Upon review of the photos generously supplied by P51: judging from the rudder position (hard left) and aileron position (right wing down) coupled with the actual right wing-down position, it appears she was being side-slipped into a crosswind that may have gusted on late final. While this is a normal maneuver, in so large an aircraft the forces are such that it would be easy, IMHO, to make a hard landing, possibly leading to tire damage (or worse). Tires are replaceable, hopefully that is all the damage done. The flight crew appears to have done well as it is, although perhaps a go-around was called for, but the PIC had to make a decision and live with it. Fortunately the aircraft is essentially intact and no one was injured.

Uncertain as to what you're looking at but, I can see no indication of aileron position and even if I could, a photo from one moment would prove nothing. If indeed the rudder position represents aligning the aircraft with the runway then the wind was from aircraft right. And any discussion of what was taking place in the cockpit is idle speculation.

Just like they did with their Avenger incident, I'm sure there will be word from the CAF if we are simply patient enough to wait.

p51 · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:16 am

I was told this morning that they didn't blow a tire at all this morning when I got to the show. Good to hear that, but it was interesting when I got to the show this morning...

Mark Allen M · **Joined:** Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm **Posts:** 7802

p51 wrote:

They blew one tire in the nose for certain and I heard the crew later referring to tires, as in more than one.

p51 wrote:

I was told this morning that they didn't blow a tire at all

FWIW perhaps it may be best to just wait a bit longer for some concrete information?

Speedy · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:01 pm

Direct info from someone who was ON the plane: One tire blown, two others flat-spotted and needing to be changed. Grounded until further notice. Attempting to get tires brought in from Texas.

p51 · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:18 pm

Speedy wrote:

Direct info from someone who was ON the plane: One tire blown, two others flat-spotted and needing to be changed. Grounded until further notice. Attempting to get tires brought in from Texas.

funny, the person who emailed me demanding I delete my first post in this thread and the guy who tried to corner me in the parking lot as I left all insisted no tire was blown at all. Had more than a few people trying to order me to remove my posts (silly me, I only wrote that the landing was a little rough, with photos, and mentions I heard people ON THE CREW say, some of it more than two hours later). One guy later apologized, I told one I wasn't interested in talking, and the third I told to go choke himself (his age was the only thing preventing me from saying or doing more).
Funny thing, I don't answer to any of them, I'm not sure why any of then felt they could order me to do anything, especially as my original post seems to be largely accurate. It more than put me on edge as well that not only did each of them know me by name and what I looked like, two seemed to know exactly when I'd be walking in there that morning. I'd never met any of them before and I'm not a well known face or name in the warbird world at all. Yeah, it's not that tough to find those things but I wonder how wide that dissemination went and how much homework they did to find out how to pick me out of a crowd.
I'm done with this comical level of childishness...

makin' boost · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:45 pm

Speedy wrote:

Direct info from someone who was ON the plane: One tire blown, two others flat-spotted and needing to be changed. Grounded until further notice. Attempting to get tires brought in from Texas.

This is similar to what I was told yesterday afternoon by a member of the CAF crew. There was some discussion about getting tires and or equipment from Boeing or JBLM (Joint Base Lewis McChord ). They were still evaluating the situation at the time.

Speedy · **Posted:** Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:59 pm

p51 wrote:

Speedy wrote:

Direct info from someone who was ON the plane: One tire blown, two others flat-spotted and needing to be changed. Grounded until further notice. Attempting to get tires brought in from Texas.

funny, the person who emailed me demanding I delete my first post in this thread and the guy who tried to corner me in the parking lot as I left all insisted no tire was blown at all. Had more than a few people trying to order me to remove my posts (silly me, I only wrote that the landing was a little rough, with photos, and mentions I heard people ON THE CREW say, some of it more than two hours later). One guy later apologized, I told one I wasn't interested in talking, and the third I told to go choke himself (his age was the only thing preventino me from saying or doing more).
Funny thing, I don't answer to any of them, I'm not sure why any of then felt they could order me to do anything, especially as my original post seems to be largely accurate.
I'm done with this comical level of childishness. ..

Sorry...I don't have a dog in the fight, and wasn't trying to doubt you or speculate. Was just passing on what I was told.

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B29 Fifi blows at least one tire on landing in olympia

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