21 August 2016 N9MB Northrop Flying Wing nose gear collapse

[bdk]

http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/apex/f?p=1 ... 6,NORTHROP

[Chris Brame]

Aw rats. Says "minor damage"; let's hope so.

[marine air]

I think they should just lock down the nose gear and fly it as it. Call it the "Flying Ding."

[Red Tail]

I’m told the nose gear did not collapse per say, the upper strut tube broke as the aircraft touched down. The remaining “stump” kept the fuselage from contacting the ground. There was some damage to the underside of the fuselage and gear doors where the nose gear flailed around and hit it. After some investigation of the broken parts, they found very faint signs that the upper strut had been harboring a hidden crack, probably for quite some time. Other than that, the damage is as reported, minor. Good news! Hopefully they will have it back in the air for next year’s show!

John

[bdk]

Thanks for that info John, I haven't even seen it. I was looking for something else and just tripped over the flying wing notice.

[Pogo]

Thanks for that, John. Just my kind of incident: nobody hurt, and minimal damage! That has to be one of the more interesting warbirds flying today (well, at least it was conceived with military DNA, and not civvie).