Air Heritage C-123K Rough/Exciting Landing at Geneseo 6/3/23

[bmoran]

The Air Heritage C-123K had an exciting landing at the Geneseo Airshow this weekend:


(Not my video)

[Pat Carry]

Whoa!

[lucky52]

Was it damaged?

[CAPFlyer]

Sporty crosswind, "slick" grass, a little bit of a drop-off on the edge of the runway and yep, that's a definite pucker moment. Good on the crew for keeping things together and flying all the way to a stop once it started going sideways.

[bmoran]

A required runway inspection occurred post landing specifically calling out a search for a tail cone.

Aircraft made a return flight to Beaver Falls the next day: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N22 ... Z/D52/KBVI

Last edited by bmoran on Mon Jun 05, 2023 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

[K5DH]

Wow! That could have gone very badly. Hats off to the pilots for their quick and proper actions to prevent a potential disaster.

[lmritger]

Hooooo-doggie!

Cowboy hats are now authorized for use by the flight crew after successfully corralling their bucking steed, following that crazy trip across the prairieland around the airport!

Don't think I've ever seen a cross-wind physically lift a wing like that, but the crew reacted instantly and did a terrific job getting it under control. Well done, team.

Lynn

[DoraNineFan]

Was it damaged?

I watched the video a few times and I do not see a prop strike or a wingtip strike. It looks like only the fuel tank scrubbed the ground. Very lucky.

[Larry Kraus]

My guess would be that the right prop reversed and that the left one didn’t. I saw that more than once when United Airlines did training on Convairs in Santa Barbara in the 1960s. Still, it’s just a theory.

[CAPFlyer]

I think the crosswind factored into the aircraft being pushed sideways that then caused it to "tip" because of the narrow-track landing gear. It's not unheard of on the C-123. The "tip" was just due to inertia and the slight slope at the edge of the main runway area.

I wouldn't doubt the reverse being another potential factor. My short time with a Convair outfit in 2004 we had several occasions where it was a factor, including a flight a jump-seated on. It definitely is noticeable if you're not holding the engines in idle reverse until they both "flip".

[Scott Rose]

I expect some flight suits need laundering

[Warbird Kid]

It was a bit harry to watch. We were down the show line, closer to the taxi way near the aircraft parking, when we saw her almost make a ground loop. Gotta remember, it was really WINDY that day, The WWI birds didn't go up and the paratroopers didn't drop. But they recovered. Looked fine afterwards!


Picture taken by my fiancée Sam.

[kalamazookid]

Wow, what a photo! That could have been a lot worse. Hats off to the crew for their quick reaction and getting the aircraft righted with no damage.

[Kyleb]

I'm just surprised at the seeming lack of aileron input.

[Archer]

I can see the needed aileron input in that last photo. Keep in mind that even with the yoke turned into the wind, you can still find yourself in a situation where wind, inertia, terrain conditions and perhaps some other spanners being thrown into the works can and will conspire against you. Good job crew!

Edited to add... I just found this video on PPRuNe:

I can see the RH aileron deflected upwards just when that wing drops and moving down a bit later to pick that wing up again. I guess the photo above shows the latter part of that sequence.