C-17 Driver

I understand what you are trying to say, but there is a standard. I am not trying to be antagonistic in my reply, so please don't take it that way. By your logic, but what about a young crew "feeling the pressure" and drops half of their jumpers off DZ and several of them die? How about a young crew "feeling the pressure" blowing the fire bottle on the wrong engine?

There are some things in our profession, in my opinion, that are inexcusable. Having a lot of pressure is not an excuse. I will say again that there is no excuse for forgetting to land with the gear down.

I respectfully ask to you what, in your opinion, would justify permanently grounding someone? I am not referring to gross or criminal negligence while in the cockpit (alcohol, drugs, blatant disregard for rules..etc).

Again, I am not trying to be antagonistic in my response. Some things you simply should not do as a pilot. These guys screwed up, plain and simple.

My humble $.02.

C17D

USMCFLYR

We were having some discussion about this in my ready room yesterday. My current CO had two flight school roommates. At some time in training one of his roommates accidentally landed gear up. That person kept flying and is now on the Nuclear ship CO track. Three months later his other roommate took the runway when the tower called favorable winds (by this I mean winds were right on the limits and they were playing the keep asking game and then go when you get good news game) Mind you this incident was in the TA-4J - a airplane that was known for its' high gear and tricky handling characteristics - especially in winds. On the take-off roll he drifted and couldn't correct and ended up running off the runway and into the Fresnal Lens and the generator and basically blowing the place up That student pilot never flew again.

Was it just a sign of the times (or needs of the service) that dictated that one student made a mistake and kept flying and the next did not or was it a function of the headwork error or intent that played a factor?

I can tell you now that many that would have not gotten a second chance in the past now often get two or three chances - and I'm talking about in performance based incidents and safety incidents.

USMCFLYR

iceman49

Agreed, there is no excuse for landing gear up, however there are human, enviornmental, design and mechanical factors that typically figure into an accident. Thats why procedures, checklists etc, change. 2 C5's landed short at Muscogkee, a 141 landed gear up with an extremely experienced Altus instructor on board....141 crashed into the mountains at McChord...all with squadron and wing flight examiners on board. The civilian world has the same problems.

Not trying to start an argument, but unfortunately these things are not black and white. There are those who have, and those that will, make a mistake, miss a checklist...but fortunately the problem is picked up. Going into Palmdale, the tower told the aircraft that "rollers were required for the landing" **it happens. Don't know about anyone else, but I've never flown the perfect flight...always trying, but hasn't happened yet.

MD10PLT

Anyone know what happened to the B-1 crew that landed gear up back in 2006.