Leslie |
08 January 2013 02:07 PM |
As a rule, undercarriage failure is not such a serious problem. As long as you have made it to the runway, one wheel up is unlikely to be deadly serious. It does mean that you may well lose directional control on the ground and you may even do a "ground loop". That means that the aircraft turns towards the wheel up side until it changes direction by as much as 180 degrees. In doing so the speed will reduce considerably and the machine stops facing the wrong way. The aircraft occupants would be most unlucky to be injured-more like just alarmed! If you know about the failure before the landing then it is possible to hold the wings level with one wheel and the tailwheel on the ground until a pretty low speed.
In this case it is likely that the pilot was not expecting a failure which makes life more difficult at the time since the wing may dip a long way before he can take corrective action. I am naturally glad he is uninjured.
Les
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