FJ-4B down

[Scott Vetter]

Just heard that the FJ-4B, N400FS, went down at the practice air show at Pensacola NAS this afternoon. Heard this from Steve Link on the wrecks and relics newsgroup. No reason why this happened but the plane landed gears up. No post "landing" fire. Pilot Richard Sugden apparently got out unharmed. Looks like just the undercarriage will need some work.

[David Boyd]

Another pic:

[Scott Vetter]

Awesome pic! Hopefully the aircraft will be repaired and put back up in the air.

[David Boyd]

I found a video of it on youtube...looks like a landing gear malfunction, not pilot error:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YnuKgAcOD2Q

[Gennaro Avolio]

Scott,

Looking at the photos it would seem that in addition to the undercarriage, there is damage to the bottom speed brake and the flaps. Additionally I'll bet some wing damage also.

Do we need to consider some form of "Mobile Control" at the end of the runway for air shows?

Gennaro Avolio

[Scott Vetter]

Yeah, most probably the speed brakes and flaps. If the pilot did it right, and my bets are that he did, the wings might have been saved.

You want to drive a mobile control truck from one end of the country to another? Might be good if you are retired! Investing in a ground proximity alarm in one's aircraft might be a good alternative.

[Gennaro Avolio]

Scott,

My vision of an airshow "mobile control" is a guy in a lawn chair, with an umbrella and a hand held.
If you're going to land gear up, a low altitude alarm probably would not help as you are planning on being close to the ground.

Gennaro Avolio

[Scott Vetter]

Let's not forget the person in the lawn chair also has a few cold non-alcoholic beverages! But that would work. However the person would have to know the performer's routine to know the difference between a wheel-s up condition and a low pass. Coordination would have to be arranged so as not to distract the pilot from chatter.
However we do not know for sure if the pilot intentionally landed wheels-up or was just doing a low (really low) pass. Haven't seen an NTSB report yet. (I'll see if a prelim was written up).