WIX Archives

Re: Collings Corsair Gear Up Landing More details

Posted by Gary Norville on Fri Sep 26, 2003 08:43:20 PM

In reply top Collings Corsair Gear Up Landing More details posted by John H on Thu Sep 25, 2003 05:14:14 AM

I've never been here before (Thanks John), it's interesting to read all the comments about the incident.

The damage to Collings -5 is :

4 prop blades need replacing, the spider is still undetermined until next week but probably o.k.

Engine propshaft and gears, including the bell gear are out for inspection.

Cowl nose bowl and cowl flaps have chipped paint due to flying gravel.

4 of 6 flaps need trailing edge, skin and rib work. Inboard steel flap hinges need replacement. One flap tube needs repair.

IFF antenna needs replacing.

Forward and rear tailwheel doors need reskinning.

As for what caused the incident: We are still looking at the right wheel well restrictor / check valve.

It might not be rocket science, but it's still mechanical.

Our goal is the begining of November 2003.










: Just saw this on Aero News.Net
:
: Bad News for Collings Corsair
: Thu, 25 Sep '03
:
: Right Main Wouldn't Come Down, But Airplane Had To
: The recently-completed restoration of a Korean War veteran
: F4U-5NL Corsair got a bump in the road Wednesday. The pil
: ot, we're told, is fine; but the beautiful big warbird has
: suffered some damage. Flying out of restorer American Aer
: o Services in New Smyrna (FL), the afternoon shakedown fli
: ght went wrong.
:
: We came back from a late lunch Wednesday to the sad news.
: Ryan Keough, the National Coordinator of the Wings of Free
: dom Tour, had sent out a message, and an ANN News-Spy had
: relayed it to us:
:
: "Well, I might as well be the bearer of bad news before yo
: u hear it from another source. Only two days after startin
: g the flight test program, our F4U-5NL Corsair had to bell
: y land today at New Smyrna Beach after the right main gear
: refused to come down. All attempts to get it down such as
: G-loading and blowing the gear down were tried, but nothi
: ng worked. Dale Snodgrass, who was test flying it, did a g
: ood job in getting it down with as minimal damage as possi
: ble, but regardless we are looking at least a new engine,
: prop, flaps, and various repairs in the wings and fuselage
: . Hopefully we will have it back for the 2004 season."
:
: Ken at the Collings Foundation said, "When we heard from t
: hem, they were still cleaning it off the runway. This just
: happened an hour or so ago." We asked for details of the
: Florida crash. "The right gear just wouldn't come down," h
: e explained. "They tried cycling it, tried different maneu
: vers... they finally decided to just put it down."
:
: We talked with Bob Collings, the Foundation's head.
:
: Bob Collings was philosophical when we talked. "I guess, w
: hen you fly historic airplanes, you're going to ding one u
: p now and then. We just have a little more restoration to
: do on it, I guess." [The restoration began when the machin
: e arrived, in March... of 1993 --ed.]
:
: What happened? "They got the engine basically [turned] off
: , but the prop was still windmilling. All four blades are
: peeled back. Dale Snodgrass [pilot] really did a good job;
: he just 'mooshed' it in. The outboard flaps, the ailerons
: , the wings weren't damaged."
:
: The flight, this machine's second since its second restora
: tion at American Aero, should have been routine. "He took
: off, put the gear up, flew around... the engine was smooth
: , the prop was fine... this was the second flight, the fir
: st real 'test' flight. He had left the gear down on the fi
: rst flight. We went to cycle it down; the left [main gear]
: and tailwheel came down, but the right gear didn't. He di
: d a pass... the tire was out of the well, but it just wasn
: 't enough. He went up to altitude, and did some 0-g, and s
: ome 5-g pullups, to try to wrench it down, but he just did
: n't want to fool with it any more. He pulled the other gea
: r up -- you don't want to land with it unbalanced -- and p
: ut it down, just beautifully."
:
: Oh, the irony!
: Mr. Collings noted, "They picked it up with a crane, and..
: . guess what? The gear came right down! We don't know what
: it was -- there a kind of 'pop' when it came down..." [So
: unds like something was lodged in there --ed.]
:
: This particular Corsair, when it was restored the first ti
: me, had a saltwater landing off New Smyrna Beach (FL) in 1
: 997. This is its second restoration...
:
: It wasn't the first bad landing a Corsair has ever had, as
: this November, 1951 shot aboard the USS Leyte (nee USS Cr
: own Point, CV-32) attests. No; that's a different Corsair.
:

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