P-40 gear collapse incident?

snj-5 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:10 am

Anyone have more info? This was on the FAA prelim accident run this morning:

http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/accident_incident/preliminary_data/events01/media/09_49FG.txt

The aircraft is P-40N-5 42-105861, N49FG.

Fortunately, the prelim report says damage is minor & nobody got hurt.

Bela P. Havasreti

k5083 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:17 am

Fallis's airplane. It took two or three tries to land when it arrived at Geneseo Friday night and it looked like it was having gear issues. Guess it was. :cry:

August

Nathan · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:43 pm

wow I just saw her last Saturday too! :cry:

What a shame.

AIRIC · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:30 pm

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2008 6:17 pm

That stinks! I had a great talk with Mr Fallis after the Geneseo airshow about the aircraft. It is very cool that the aircraft is painted in the group it fought with during WW2. I love the colors!

I glad to hear he is ok and I hope he gets the aircraft back up and flying soon!

Tim

k5083 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:52 pm

Question about the paint scheme by the way. As I understand it this is a new restoration and a brand new paint job. On the right side of the cowling it looked like a number had been painted in white, then either stripped off or overpainted in a slightly different olive drab. Is that an accurate representation of a WWII marking, or just a boo-boo in the new paint job? Anyone know?

August

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:50 pm

I just got a email from John. Minor airframe damage
but the prop took a good hit meaning possible/probable engine damage.
It looked like the numbers were water based and took a pounding
by the rain. It didn't occur to me to ask for sure.

AeroTRrat · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:10 pm

At the end of Sat in Geneseo, there seemed to be some concern about oil pressure or a small leak. The guys were all over the oil coolers.

I would have loved to see it fly. It's a great paint scheme.

I hope it gets back in the air soon.

hang the expense · **Posted:** Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:21 am

I really hate that for John.Not going to be even reasonable to repair especially the prop.Another real good reason to use a hamilton standard prop assy.60Gs for a prop made a believer out of me.

CWBuff · **Joined:** Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:14 am **Posts:** 854

Bummer... but after hearing about the trouble this ship had on arrival at Geneseo, the ugly thought crossed my mind,
'what about the return trip?'.

Guess I shouldn't think so much and send out those negative waves. Hopefully it's a quick recovery...

Here's a few from Saturday morning at Genny...

Fade to Black...

krlang · **Posted:** Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:52 pm

That is terrible,

Those guys were struggling with a coolant leak at Geneseo. They were planning to move it to Oshkosh and replace the cooler there, I guess plans had changed enough to bring it home.

When he arrived into Geneseo he went around once, and had us nervous when he mentioned the gear was not down and locked. The next trip by, the gear was up and the flaps were down, it was scary to see it turning crosswind. The landing was interesting to say the least, getting the prop really close to the ground trying to slow the airplane down.

I hope the drop tank is something that takes a little damage but does not create more airframe issues. I had also heard over the weekend that there were some issues with the feed line in the tank.

Good to see nobody was hurt.

Chad Veich · **Posted:** Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:08 pm

krlang wrote:

The landing was interesting to say the least, getting the prop really close to the ground trying to slow the airplane down.

Just about every P-40 I've ever seen fly has looked just like the above pic during the landing roll. I've often wondered what it is about the P-40 that makes the tail fly so high, and for so long, on landing. True scale radio control models of the P-40 share the exact same characteristic.

Bill Greenwood · **Posted:** Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:36 pm

A shame to have such a nice bird bent. In the landing photo it looks like the flaps are not fully down. Is that all the way? It sure does look tail high, and the elevator is level, but I do see most P-40s make wheel landings. Who was the pilot on this one? If he had gear trouble I'll bet he is holding his breath on touchdown. I has the same thing happen at Geneso, but mine was only a loose wire in the indicator circuit and the gear was down and locked ok. I was very glad to have the mechanical indicators also.

Nathan · **Posted:** Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:52 pm

There are pegs in the wings of the P-40 that pop up to indicate if the gear is up or down.

Chuck Gardner · **Posted:** Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:36 pm

Quote:

krlang wrote:

The landing was interesting to say the least, getting the prop really close to the ground trying to slow the airplane down.

Just about every P-40 I've ever seen fly has looked just like the above pic during the landing roll. I've often wondered what it is about the P-40 that makes the tail fly so high, and for so long, on landing. True scale radio control models of the P-40 share the exact same characteristic.

This is an incomplete flare and not the appropriate way to land a P-40. You slow an airplane down with a 3 point landing it, not by a wheel landing. Nothing about the P-40 requires the pilot to land this way. Just because you have seen it like this before just proves the lack of tailwheel flight training and incompetence in the warbird pilot pool. You are not supposed to be able to see straight ahead on landing in tailwheel fighters.

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P-40 gear collapse incident?

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