Fighter Plane Makes Amazing ‘Belly Landing’ Without Landing Gear
- Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:34am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
- Print »
- Email »
There’s Capt. Sully Sullenberger, and then there‘s the pilot you’re about to see.
Utah pilot Kay Eckardt was flying his 1957 T-33 Hellcat jet last Friday at at the St. George Airport in St. George, UT when his landing gear malfunctioned. When that happened, he did the only thing he could: pull off a belly landing. And pull it off he did.
Video captured the amazing event:
Thespectrum.com has more:
The runway was foamed prior to the landing and fire and ambulance crews were called to the scene. A Life Flight helicopter was placed on standby but was not needed.
Marc Mortensen, assistant to the St. George city manager, said the plane made four passes to burn off fuel before coming in for a belly landing. Sparks flew as the aircraft skidded about 2,000 feet before coming to a stop.
“It was a picture-perfect landing,” Mortensen said.
Despite the circumstances, the pilot and co-pilot emerged unscathed.
“They couldn’t have done a better job,” said airport manager Rich Stehmeier, praising the efforts of the pilot and emergency personnel. “That‘s the way it’s supposed to work.”
Although the plane is painted to look like a Navy Blue Angel aircraft, the Navy said it is not an official part of their fleet.
Popular Stories
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 688 Comments
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 471 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 374 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 334 Comments
‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 318 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 309 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 318 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 218 Comments- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 148 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 302 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 309 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (77)
Atokaite
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 10:06amSorry to see the loss of an ancient T33.
Report Post »Standard Op for belly landings. Burn off fuel, foam and land.
A peice of cake, FOR A TRAINED AVIATOR>
Semper FI
shogun459
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:34amMinor damage it’s totally fixable.
; )
Report Post »scrapadapolis
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 8:59pmwhat a shame he has to rebuild his underside.nice plane,nice job..
Report Post »TexOkie
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 9:29pmAnyone who can afford to own and fly one of these can afford to fix it when things go wrong. It is a shame but I would not feel to sorry for the owner. He is lucky to have the resources he has and lucky to be alive. More power to him.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:42pmHot stick!
Report Post »Mauireman
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:41pmI didn’t think any of these where still flying?
Report Post »bjornskis
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:12pmOutstanding!!!!
Report Post »notreally
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 4:41pmNot a big deal for a Navy pilot. We only needed a few hundred feet on an aircraft carrier to land, while the Air Force pilots? Any runway shorter than 8,000 feet was an emergency.
(retired F8U Crusader pilot)
Report Post »beatobama
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 6:57pmFlying without a flush toilet is barbaric. Pass my flight lunch, please!
Report Post »apollo18
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 9:28amBZ’s sir. ;-)
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 3:09pmIt’s not the Plane, silly… it is a Great PILOT!
Report Post »FearlessInfedel62
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 2:55pmLooks like a F4F Panther to me. one of the most amazing landings I’ve seen vidio of was an Israeli airforce pilot landing a F-15 with one wing missing!
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 4:01pmLockheed T-33 in Navy Blue Angels colors.
Report Post »TexasBlaze
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 4:06pmHey Fearless, that one-wing-missing vid is photoshopped. Hate to break the bad news to you.
Report Post »LiveOak11
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 3:22pmHey TEXASBLAZE, photo was not photoshopped.
Report Post »wntsmallgov
Posted on February 13, 2012 at 12:12amF4′s have twin engs. Do not have the bulb at the end of the wing and the wings are in the wrong postiton on this plane.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 10:36amB-17, no tail surface ramaining most of tail frame blown away.
Report Post »Latter-Day-Soldier
Posted on February 29, 2012 at 3:17amThe Israeli F-15 had a mid-air collision with an A-4 and did fly back to the closest base and land, here is the vid with pilot interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpwyU30g7rI
Report Post »GO-FOR-LIBERTY
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 12:14pmJust~~~~~WOWEE!!!!!!
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:53amAwesome…hope he has insurance and can afford the emergency response costs!
Report Post »encinom
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 12:18pmOf cause that begs to answer why should he have to pay for an emergency reponse, when that is the purpose if his taxes? Oh wait this is the Blaze where they agree with Beck that firemen should allow homes to burn to the ground if protection money is not paid.
Report Post »okredstate
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 4:44pmEncinom: F you
Report Post »Latter-Day-Soldier
Posted on February 29, 2012 at 3:19amWarning: Don’t feed the trollz
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:38amThe Japanese were still using T-33‘s back in the late 80’s.I remember watching them land at Misawa Air Base almost daily…A tribute to such a strong design. Any training aircraft is built strong to tolerate a low time pilot in a high peformance aircraft.
Report Post »Texas Chris
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:53amI’d love to have one of these. It’d be a great commuter…
Report Post »mred33
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 7:38pmThe plane was first designed as the F-80 Shooting Star and then turned into the T-33 later as it was a very easy flying plane.
Report Post »fiveft15
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:34amOh, if only we were all as all-knowing as the_jerko**. He knows alot about so much in this world! Let me see, I think the appropriate definition is narcissism!
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:58amIs that a narcissist calling another a narcissist?
Report Post »83plus
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:29amCheers to the pilot for the success
Report Post »Ratcraft
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:16amI sit through a 30 second commercial and then two pop ups on the video screen. What a crock of ***** ******* you***** *** *******
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:01pmYou sure have THAT right on. The ads on Blaze have always been among the most intrusive of any ‘News’ site. That’s why I find myself coming here less and less. The HUFFPO Libs running it censoring so much doesn’t help either.
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:12pmMy comment expanding upon your comment was censored out. ‘Nuff said about censor Trolls.
Report Post »schroeder123
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:06amThat was an antique plane. Lucky it didn’t break apart.
Report Post »Ratcraft
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:15amThat‘s the reason why it didn’t.
Report Post »Biker Bitch
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:00amThat must be the new St. George airport they were threatening to build when I lived there! The old airport I’m used to in St. George is on top of a bluff on the black hill – if you roll / slide too far you fall off the edge of the bluff!! This was not on top of that bluff. Winds up there were scary too. I remember landing there once where the plane was more that 45 degrees sideways as we were coming in for the landing – the pilot pulled it straight at the last minute, when we got low enough so the winds coming over the ridge were blocked. Great job pilot man!
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:41amThat was a cross wind landing.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 10:33amIncredible.
Report Post »RetUSAFVet
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 10:13amT-33 Trainer – not a fighter. While the T-33 has the same name as the F-80 Shooting Star (F for fighter) and came from the F-80, it was and still is a trainer.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:20amLockheed built some strong aircraft in the day.
Report Post »C. Schwehr
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:28amGlad to see someone caught both errors. The T-33 Shooting Star was the military’s first jet trainer, and was also used as the base airframe for the F-94, the Air Force’s first all weather interceptor, and first jet to carry an afterburner.
Report Post »The “Hellcat” is a WWII Navy fighter, the F6F by Grumman.
Phantom II
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:55amThat would be the Navy’s version, either TO-2 or TV-2
Report Post »Boomer52
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 4:33pmThe other way around…T33 1st then F80
Report Post »cvs334
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:52amShooting Star … not Hellcat.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:29amI saw that too. The F6F Hellcat was a prop plane built by Grumman.
Report Post »boca_chica
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:50amLooks like a good job. My father had to do this with his North American Navion back in the late 60′s ( hydraulic gear pump failed) and again with his Meyers 200B in the late eighties ( he forgot to put the gear down-it happens alot to pilots) New prop and minor repairs to the Navion and reskinning to the Meyers.
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:12amI’ve been around pilots my entire life and have never known one who FORGOT to put his hear down when landing. Gear failure? yes, forgetting to put gear down? no.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:31amThere have been many pilots who forgot to put the gear down and banged up an airplane in the Military and in the civillian world.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 12:01pmHappens quite often.
Report Post »trekleader
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 12:18pmYep, I’ve heard the phrase, “there are two types of retractable gear pilots, those who have landed with their gear up and those who will.”
For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Hs5ChcYbaNU&vq=large
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 12:39pmWhen I was in the USAF, a pilot had to do runway duty.He had a position where he watched all the planes coming in and he had radio contact with the A-10;s as they came back to land. One of his jobs was to make sure that the landing gear was down on the returning aircraft. It was great to watch them return when they had an in flight emergency going on such as a bird strike or a landing gear failure light at night. One time at night, a pilot had to take off at night to fly chase with an A-10 pilot that was not sure if his gear was down. Fortunately, it was just a false indication.
Report Post »The Woot
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:46amYall know what they call a good landing, don’t ya?
Report Post »Its one you walk away from.
TulsAmerican
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 10:07amA great landing is when you can reuse the airplane.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 10:31amTulsaAmerican, that’s something McCain had a problem with… wouldn’t have wanted to be his plane.
Report Post »apollo18
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 9:46amThe_Jerk:
I guess you haven‘t seen John McCain’s exiting his A-4 when it was on fire on the USS Forrestal. Up, out of the cockpit, over the nose and walked his refueling probe, then jumped into the flames to safety. 134 killed. Saw that one, on film, in boot camp, before I knew about what he did to survive thew Hanoi Hilton. Not all that keen about his politics, but one superb warrior. That’s a REAL 1%-er.
Report Post »What would the other 99% have done?
THX-1138
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:46amThose sparks were his big brass balls dragging down the runway.
Nicely done.
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:52ambrass doesn’t spark……..
Report Post »THXll38
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:55amAs a fellow THX1138 fan, I will agree with THX-1138. In this case brass balls do spark.
Report Post »EJ1979
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:58amIndeed.
Report Post »David, the Constitutional Libertarian
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:21amRepub, brass is non magnetic, it will spark. All metals will throw off material and if heated at the time, will glow. Run a piece of brass on a grinder and tell me it does not spark. Now Aluminum will generally melt onto the wheel but it will throw sparks as well. Never tried gold, but of course why would I grind gold?
Report Post »David, the Constitutional Libertarian
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:25amRepub, generally speaking, only ferrous metals throw sparks. You can actually tell their composition from the sparks that fly. But during rough landings and such, even non ferrous will spark and throw molten or heated fragments that could be construed as sparks.
Report Post »eagle2715
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 7:13pmBrass won’t spark when bumped into more brass….It’s why guys use it to hold powder for muzzle loaders…
Report Post »apollo18
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 9:53amRepublicorp:
Drag yours that far down the runway. You’ll see sparks. And stars. And probably St “Peter”.
Report Post »avgconservative
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:46amGood job, “Ace!”
http://FlipTheLib.com
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:45am.
Report Post »The real mess was discovered at the Dry Cleaners, later that afternoon………
C. Schwehr
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:31amAnd the mechanics working on the plane later had to take a hammer to the pilot’s seat to remove the cone on the seat bottom that was formed during the landing.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:43amNot all that impressive and not too uncommon.
Report Post »Gulby
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:49amTroll
Report Post »The Woot
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:50amAnd you’ve done it how many times?
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:55amLuckily never, but stood by an airfield and have seen it twice. Friends have done it… and other than noise, sparks, and tight sphincters, they said not all that different.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:56amOh, and by the way… one was with an aircraft much larger than the one portrayed here.
Report Post »drago
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 10:14am@the_jerk.
Report Post »I’m sorry, but belly landing a plane on a video game doesnt count, go back to your basement kid………
The_Jerk
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 10:28amDrago, you broke my heart. I thought it did.
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 11:31am“Everything is beautiful, in its own way”. Open your heart and you will be amazed that the world around you is like a kaleidoscope. Sometimes we see the “same thing over & over” but it is still LIFE! The old saying, “stop and smell the roses” well, I can add from a personal-standpoint, I have a slight phobia about spiders, but one day I watched a spider spin its web and I was amazed how God created such a tenacious insect.
Report Post »Be well and God bless you!
eagle2715
Posted on February 10, 2012 at 7:17pm“Not all that impressive and not too uncommon”
That‘s like saying flying a plane isn’t impressive man. Just because it‘s easy for the guys who do it doesn’t mean it’s easy in a relative sense. The only reason it looks so easy is through training. Been through my fair share of in flight emergencies, all made to look easy, but take a great deal of skill and concentration to pull off….Less than 1% of the population could have done it that well with an aircraft of that design….
You got negative reactions like the ones above because your comment comes across like a teenage kid who just got one-up’ed in a spit wad contest…
Report Post »