Dutch F-16 wheels up landing in Belgium

[Garysb]

Greg may be able to shed a bit of light on this one if only to translate!

http://video.rtlinfo.be/video/298251.aspx


Gary

[Greg]

I certainly am, because I controlled the guy into Charleroi yesterday

It was a Dutch F-16 on a Functional Check Flight. He had done some tests in Dutch airspace before being handed over to me for transit to the SABCA facilities at Charleroi Airport. I didn't notice anything abnormal during the flight nor did the pilot mention a hydraulics problem but after landing, Charleroi called us to inform they had closed the airport because the F-16's gear had collapsed on touch-down. The EPU had gone off so it took them hours to get rid of that nasty hydrazine.

I read it was one of the airframes being prepared for sale to Chile.

[MIKE JG]

It's now available at a large discount to Chile.

[james84]

Wow!
Glad that nobody was hurt!
I'm sure Ryanair passengers waiting to board their flights were not as happy though!
BTW, Greg, are the two white Mi-26s still at CRL?

[Greg]

No idea mate. I work at an Area Control Centre about 75km from Charleroi as the crow flies

[james84]

Ah!

[sr01]

Single malt says PILOT ERROR

[ronniegj]

I wouldn't jump to quickly on that one. With the EPU firing, I wouldn't be surprise to learn of some sort of failure in the hydraulic system, and the gear collapsing at the instant of touchdown. Of course, that's a totally uneducated guess.

Ron

[sr01]

Ron
My guess was undeucated as well .However ,I can't imagine HOW an F16's mains would fold inwards with no hydraulics . Nose gear ,yep ,but mains I kinda doubt that .That thing would've been sitting nose down,although in one scene it DOES look like the main wheel sitting there .Again, MHO

[ronniegj]

Well, I did want it understood that it was an uneducated guess. I did a look up on the EPU, and noticed that it will fire automatically if it detects either a loss of electric or hydraulics, and electric seems a bit unlikely. Perhaps the mains did not drop more that a third or so, and could be pushed back up on contact.

Anyway, it is always better to await the results of the full investigation, I just personally hate that pilot error is always the first thing pulled out of the bag, even when that is being used as a cover up to prevent legal action etc. Seen it too many times. Like a captain of a ship, the pilot bears final blame whether he had any control over the issue or not! It is of interest that this ship was being overhauled for resale, and was probably on a check flight. Leads to much speculation re: engineer error/over-site.

Ron