Emergency Landing Closes Norfolk International For Several
Hours
A 60-year-old Soviet Yak 3M fighter (file photos of type, below)
experiencing landing gear problems made a belly landing Saturday at
Norfolk (VA) International Airport, closing two main runways and
forcing diversions and cancellations of flights to and from the
airport.
The airport was closed for three hours following the incident at
approximately 1 pm Saturday afternoon, while workers cleared the
wreckage. The pilot of the Yak, Jack Shultz, was not injured in the
landing, said airport manager Wayne Shank to the Associated
Press.
Shank said he hoped passengers inconvenienced by the incident
would understand. "Bottom line, we have a pilot who was able to
save himself and there were no injuries," he said. "That’s a
huge plus."
According to media reports, Shultz had just finished
participating in an air show at nearby Hampton Roads Executive
Airport and was attempting to land there when he realized there was
a problem with the landing gear.
"It lurched" on landing, Shultz said. “I was going
straight at the crowd."
Fortunately, Shultz was carrying enough power to initiate a
go-around. Once the Yak was safely back up in the air, the
airplane's owner, Art Nalls Jr., was able to fly alongside Shultz's
aircraft in his Czech L-39 Albatross trainer to scope out the
problem.
The two pilots determined the Yak's right maingear had broken
and spun sideways, causing it to fail to lock in the down position.
That was the bad news. The good news was, the gear would likely
fold up during landing, allowing the option for a belly
landing.
Shultz made the decision to divert to Norfolk International,
with its longer runways and accessibility to emergency services.
After flying over the field for approximately thirty minutes to
burn off fuel, Shultz shut down the engine and glided to the
runway.
The damaged gear folded up exactly as anticipated, and Shultz
was able to maintain directional control with the rudder to keep
the plane tracking straight down the centerline.
"There was a lot of clangin’ and bangin'," Shultz said
after the incident. "Getting it down was the easy part. You sort of
leave it up to God after that. You say, 'OK, help me.'"
"It was a good landing," Shultz added.
The Yak, nicknamed "Red Heat," was remarkably unscathed from the
incident -- although repairing the damaged gear, scraped belly and
bent propeller will still likely cost as much as $70,000 to fix,
Nalls said. It is only one of a handful of Yak 3s still flying.
As soon as repairs are completed, Shultz will be back in the
pilot's seat.
"It was a great fighter," he said, "and it flies great."