Teamwork, determination avert crash landing

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Martin Jackson
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  A C-130 Hercules from the 710th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, with 65 people on board, came within minutes of making a crash landing June 29.

What started out to be a 90-minute flight turned into three and a half hours of nonstop effort to get the aircraft safely on the ground.

Leaving Balad Air Base, Iraq, during what seemed to be a normal takeoff, the aircrew gained altitude and attempted to retract the landing gear. They received indications that the C-130’s right main landing gear would not retract, and upon inspection, they discovered the gear had become wedged.

“We had the loadmasters check out the gear, and they found that the aft wheel was nearly all the way down and the forward one was retracted wedging them at an angle,” said Maj. Bruce Fogle, aircraft commander.

With 59 Soldiers on board, the crew had to quickly plan out their emergency strategies, all the while working out their landing gear predicament.

“We immediately began assessing our situation determining our flight and landing options,” Major Fogle said. “The decision was to make our way to the Persian Gulf where we would orbit until we either fixed the gear problem or reached (a specified fuel level), then we would attempt to land at Kuwait International Airport because of its large runway and nearby medical facilities.”

The two loadmasters and flight engineer worked their way through the four possible procedures to raise and lower the gear listed in the operating manual, but the gear would not budge. The crew also troubleshot the problem via radio, conferencing with maintainers both locally and at the crew’s home station in Mansfield, Ohio, and with engineers at Lockheed Martin, the company that designed the aircraft. Nothing they tried moved the gear.

“We easily had more than 100 people on the ground working through and troubleshooting this situation with us,” said Maj. Jeff Charette, aircraft co-pilot. “They were doing all they could to help us as we stepped through each and every possible troubleshooting technique.”

Running out of fuel and time, they left their one and a half-hour orbit over the water and began their approach to make an emergency landing. Meanwhile the aircrew continued to work vigorously on the problem. Then success!

“We just had to get it to dislodge,” said Tech. Sgt. Shane Adams, a flight engineer. “We repeatedly worked it for quite a while in a side-to-side rocking motion, when it finally started to free up and slowly work its way down into the full-down position.”

The next task was to secure the gear in the down position for landing. The loadmasters braced it in place with heavy cargo chains strapped across the belly of the aircraft.

Finally, they then turned their attention to their new concern -- the safety of their passengers.

“With 59 passengers, we were configured for maximum capacity,” said Senior Master Sgt. Mike Cyphert, a loadmaster. “With the chains running across the inside of the aircraft and threats of metal from the props if the gear was to give way (upon) landing, we had to rearrange (the passengers’) seating, moving several of them to the floor of the aircraft where we ran cargo straps across their legs to secure them in place.”

With everyone secure, it was then all on the shoulders of the pilot and the strength of the chains as everyone on board braced for the landing.

“It was the smoothest landing I have ever seen,” Major Charette said. “(Major Fogle) put it down very soft and gentle, getting us all safely back.”

Safely on the ground, the crew said they heard elated cheers through the radio from their teammates who had been working with them from the ground.

“This was a huge team effort, not by just our crew of six but (by) everyone on the ground working with us to fix this problem,” Major Fogle said. “Even if it would have come to landing on a wedged gear, you never give up. That’s not an option when you’re flying.”

Five days later, the crew was back in a C-130, and it was business as usual flying the exact same mission -- this time making it back in the scheduled 90 minutes.