Mon, Feb 27, 2012
Talks P-51 Pilot Through A Landing Gear Issue To A Safe
Touchdown
When flying a vintage P-51D Mustang, one of the things a pilot
certainly doesn't want to see is a lack of green lights indicating
the plane's landing gear are down and locked before landing.
P-51D File Photo
But that's what happened to pilot Chuck Gardner and his
passenger Bill Barton Sunday afternoon as they approached Mobile
Downtown Airport. And it was 90-year-old WWII P-51 veteran Bob
Hoover to the rescue.
According to a blog appearing on the website Alabama Live, the
two were at the end of a scheduled 30 minute flight when only the
starboard and tail wheels deployed during preparation for landing.
Gardner was put in touch by radio with Hoover, who instructed him
on a few maneuvers he knew to coax the stuck gear out of the wheel
well. One of them worked, and the plane landed safely with no
structural damage, and no damage to either of the souls on
board.
Bob Hoover
Gardner flew the plane out over Mobile Bay and then over the
Mobile River Delta and executed about 30-40 minutes of positive and
negative G maneuvers, described by Barton as being "like a really
neat roller coaster." He said he eventually heard a "jarring
sound," and Gardner announce that he had three green.
Gardner said later that a gear-up landing in the P-51 was
probably survivable, but that Hoover's efforts prevented extensive
damage to a rare and valuable airplane. The P-51D is owned by
Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Dallas. It was taking part in an air
nostalgia weekend at Alabama Aviation Center.
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