"Aluminum Overcast" damaged by gear collapse

Are you really worried about a catastrophic failure when you've got
3 other engines?

Are you saying that they won't have to tear down those engines?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article PFqnc.57728$kh4.3413686@attbi_s52,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:


Are you saying that they won't have to tear down those engines?

I don't know about the Aluminum Overcast engines but the Nine O Nine hit
a runway sign (one of those big lighted ones made of heavy aluminum) at
Long Beach a couple of years ago with the #2 prop putting a little ding
in the prop. They dressed the prop and checked the crankshaft runout
and the FAA blessed 'em to keep flying...no teardown. Granted, the gear
collapse did more damage to the prop, but when the 909 hit she was still
at a pretty good power setting.

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

Jay

In military if you hit a prop at idle you coudl put a new prop on and
check tracking, etc and then do an oil change and fly (over field) for
several hours (5 maybe) and land and chck the screens. If nothing in
screens they would release the engine back in service.

Forget the rpm that if you exceeded then it was an engine change
(maybe 1200????).

You of course ran the engine some on ground before flying it to
determine it's condition for test flight..

So on the '17 if the engines were in idle they might get away with
just prop repairs???? and sheet metal.

Long time ago in a land far away.

Big John

On Sun, 09 May 2004 13:49:35 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Are you really worried about a catastrophic failure when you've got
3 other engines?

Are you saying that they won't have to tear down those engines?

"Ben Jackson" wrote in message
news:NLenc.1443$pY1.126737@attbi_s51...
In article d4dnc.7165$536.1423430@attbi_s03,
Jay Honeck wrote:

It going to require tearing down all four engines,

Are you really worried about a catastrophic failure when you've got
3 other engines?

On a 747 flight to Europe, the pilot came on the PA and said "Folks, we've
lost an engine, but we have three other engines, so it will merely take
another hour to reach our destination.". Later he comes on again and says,
"Folks we've lost another engine, so it'll take two more hours." Still later
he comes on and says "Folks, we've lost another engine, so now it'll take
four more hours." A little old lady in back of the plane spouts out "Boy, if
we lost another engine were going to be up here ALL DAY!"

On a 747 flight to Europe, the pilot came on the PA and said "Folks, we've
lost an engine, but we have three other engines, so it will merely take
another hour to reach our destination.". Later he comes on again and says,
"Folks we've lost another engine, so it'll take two more hours." Still
later
he comes on and says "Folks, we've lost another engine, so now it'll take
four more hours." A little old lady in back of the plane spouts out "Boy,
if
we lost another engine were going to be up here ALL DAY!"

*groan*

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article ,
James Robinson wrote:

I found some photos of the resulting damage. There are also some
comments at the bottom of the page that suggest the screw jacks failed,
as they are both broken in half:

http://www.beechcraft.org/b17-accident/

Also a link to the local TV station video:

http://tinyurl.com/2njqf

It is more likely that the screw jacks failed as a result of an
inadvertant throwing of the retraction switch. It isn't the first time
that has happened, and probably not the last!

Orval Fairbairn wrote in message .. .
In article ,
James Robinson wrote:

It is more likely that the screw jacks failed as a result of an
inadvertant throwing of the retraction switch. It isn't the first time
that has happened, and probably not the last!

The 172 drivers may snicker but those of us that drive retracts will
never make comments about gear ups. (knocking on any piece of wood I
can find).

-Robert

This was a real shame...I was back from a two hour training flight and
was in the traffic pattern when this happened. The tower controller
announced that there was a B-17 on two mile final for 16R so that we
could all enjoy seeing this bird come in. I was abeam the B-17's
touchdown spot when she landed, from 1000' up I didn't see the gear
collapse, it just seemed to stop rolling very quickly. I had a feeling
something was up when all of us in the pattern were issued go-arounds,
Van Nuys has two runways, but they closed both for Emergency vehicle
access. After about 10 minutes I was cleared to land on the the other
runway and rolled past the B-17. I hope they can fix her up, she is
even more beautiful in person then on video.

Greg King
N2957F


James Robinson wrote in message ...
The B-17 bomber owned by the Experimental Aircraft Assn. was damaged
yesterday at Van Nuys airport when its main gear collaped.

From the videos on TV, you could see its tail wheel firmly on the
ground, when the main gear retracted, and the aircraft dropped onto the
runway. The crew must had had that sinking feeling about then. It slid
perhaps 50 feet or so on its belly.

The media seems to like to say it made a belly landing, or a rough
landing, but it was apparent that it had already landed, and was simply
completing the rollout, and was preparing to turn off when it happened.

Anyway, here's a link to their web site, where they have a short
description of the incident:

http://www.b17.org/

And a typical media story:

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...129868,00.html

I couldn't find the video clip, but I assume it will appear online
sometime today.

I hope they can get it flying again soon.

"atis118" wrote in message

After about 10 minutes I was cleared to land on the the other
runway and rolled past the B-17. I hope they can fix her up, she is
even more beautiful in person then on video.

A B-17 itself going to be taken out by something as simple as a gear-up
landing; the issue will probably be whether they can afford to do so, and
whether they can insure it afterward.

Sad. Hell of a ride for the passengers. I was in the tail of the Evergreen
B-17 a few years ago when Portland tower cleared a commuter jet to land at
the perpendicular runway (28L). We came in over the river and the pilot
tried to throttle up and go around, but the ol' bird wasn't going to do it.
We cleared the intersection and then he locked the brakes. The left main
seized up and the airplane careened nearly off the side of the runway, the
tail feeling as if was going to come around, as the back filled with smoke
from the rear tire. I was raised by a B-17 vet, which made it strange.

The pilot--a 747 captain--wrestled the old hoss back onto the centerline and
brought it in none worse for the wear. Got the whole thing on video from
the tail gunner's position somewhere.

-c