Advisory - Spitfire MJ772 - incident - no injuries

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24 years 2 months

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Looking like MJ772 made a wheels up landing in Germany yesterday.

Image shows just about the minimum amount of damage that could be expected from such a landing.

Ouch. :(

Mark

Original post

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Refer lower to the Meier Motors thread

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20 years

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Those TR9's all seem to end up on their tummies ( I mean ALL ) , and some more than once!

MJ 772 adopted this very pose at Little Staughton in 1968.

Picture borrowed from this thread.

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8437&start=45

Having seen the speed and the quality of the team there, it will no doubt be back in the air in short order. Good luck with that.

Attachments

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18 years 1 month

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It says the pilot was British?

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18 years 9 months

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Damn Luftwaffe :(

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15 years 9 months

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Looks fixable, glad there were no injuries.

Wonder if that tiny little man hanging off the tail wheel was a contributory factor....

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Spitfire

Dr Strangelove.

That was hit good luck charm:D

your comment made me laugh. Thanks for that.

Glad everyone OK and not too much damage I hope.

Mark

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19 years 4 months

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Did the gear collapse on landing as the left leg is slightly down? Doesn't look too badly damaged though thankfully.

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18 years 6 months

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The poor air fighter academy haven't had a lot of luck have they?

Good news the pilot is ok. Don't worry too much, the Meier guys will probably have it back in the air by next week!!!

Any idea whom the pilot was?

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Google translation makes it all much clearer

The activities performed by a prudent and experienced pilots on Thursday evening at the airport to prevent the industrial park Breisgau worse. The 59-year-old had to make an emergency landing with a vintage airplane, because the landing gear on strike. A larger contingent of firefighters and police were alerted, could then rise but a somewhat frightened, but unharmed driver out of the machine to see. had after the pilot had taken off from the airfield Bremgarten, his flight took place and wanted to start to land, he remarked, that one of the two wheels on the chassis of the Spitfire MK IX is no longer allowed to leave. The 59-year-old pilot responded calmly: he informed the tower and turned about 30 to 45 minutes several rounds of the business park Breisgau, the fuel gauge in view. His goal: a possible empty tank to the emergency landing in a fire or even to avoid an explosion. meantime made ​​under him on the floor, the emergency services provided 50 firefighters, 20 police officers - including officials from the Criminal Müllheim that after the emergency landing at once the Investigation into the cause of the accident shots - and two rescue vehicles were on alert. The experienced pilot, it was finally at 18.30 clock, the Spitfire sure to be placed on the grass runway.

Moggy

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24 years 2 months

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Sounds like stuck undercarriage selector.

A not uncommon problem, usually solved by a reselection.

Bruce

Don't you just love Google translate?

"....the landing gear was on strike."

Having just used Google translate to send a letter to France I suspect I'll hear the laughter from across La Manche anyday soon.

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19 years 11 months

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Looks fixable, glad there were no injuries.

Wonder if that tiny little man hanging off the tail wheel was a contributory factor....

he's not just any tiny little man - he's a Leprechaun - it is an ex Irish Air Force Spitfire after all

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A shame, but hopefully the Meier guys will have her back up and about in short order!

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Im sure that someone of Achim Meier's experiance would of thought of re-selecting the gear. There are a number of potential issues that could cause this but one things for sure you wouldnt want to land with one wheel down and one up :-O

Over the years Ive come accross 2 incidents of Spit wheels not coming down (one on ours) - Clive Rowley of BBMF fame dealt with one a few years back by slow rolling the Spit and when the u\c weight was off the uplocks he was able to release the uplocks and as the aircraft rolled out gravity and airflow did the rest :-)

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I didn't know Yoda worked as a Google translator?

Regards,

kev35

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Im sure that someone of Achim Meier's experiance would of thought of re-selecting the gear. There are a number of potential issues that could cause this but one things for sure you wouldnt want to land with one wheel down and one up :-O

Over the years Ive come accross 2 incidents of Spit wheels not coming down (one on ours) - Clive Rowley of BBMF fame dealt with one a few years back by slow rolling the Spit and when the u\c weight was off the uplocks he was able to release the uplocks and as the aircraft rolled out gravity and airflow did the rest :-)

Achim Meier wasnt flying it

Yes, that is the best way of getting the weight off the locks - the lock will jam on the undercarriage lock bracket if the weight isnt taken off the gear on initial selection.

Which may, or may not have been the problem! Unless a cable snaps, I dont think it would be possible to get only one leg down.

Bruce

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20 years

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(T) Spits on their belly - Controls issue?

Whilst it is not a past time exclusive to (T) Spits to end up on their belly, it almost seems to be a rite of passage for restored a/c.

Is there a possibility that the positioning of the front cockpit controls, to accommodate the rear cockpit, somehow compromises the operation of the landing gear?

The IAC also had many wheels up incidents, could this be a Vickers design fault?

Given the value of a Spit and the cost of repairs, could the design authority carry out a mod for T IXs.