Warbird Information Exchange

The Japanese Zero fighter that was recently displayed at the Chino Air Show last month has made the trip back to Japan for flying demonstrations. This pilot is the first Japanese pilot to fly a Zero over Japan since the end of the war. It was flown in a "demo" at the Red Bull Races a few days ago. Kudos to the Japanese businessman and pilot who made this happen:

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201706040009.html

http://www.cetusnews.com/views/Ske3o6WZ ... -the-stick


On the flip side, though, it appears that the pilot forgot to raise the landing gear after takeoff, OOOOOPS!!!!

Watch in these videos as he puts the Zero through a simulated Red Bull course with the gear hanging down. I hate to say it, but this really appears to be a pilot mistake. I hope he didn't overspeed the gear and there was no damage. Does anyone know?

Videos of the "gear down" flight demonstration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrgbXbLSJjY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_YpKLjzR9k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR5coM4izRg

I'm glad everything appeared to work out, though. Losing an engine with the gear hanging down like that could have been catastrophic.

I'm sorry, but your statements are really uncalled for.

1) My first thought would have been that the Japanese regulators or Red Bull organizers required him to have the gear down for the flight, not that the pilot was stupid.

2) If you watch this "demonstration" and the later ones, he never does any actual maneuvering beyond normal turns (even the "duster turn" isn't aggressive). There's no aerobatics. This speaks to a conservative operation of the aircraft and of a cognizant pilot, not a careless one.

3) His engine is never at "high power" during this entire "demonstration". Again, this implies he was being careful with the aircraft, not pushing it to a point where he might damage the landing gear. If anything, the gear helps him be more conservative because it means he can keep the engine at slightly higher power settings (keeping it warm) without going too fast.

4) If they were "timing" his lap through the course (even though he was several hundred feet above the pylons), leaving the gear out and the engine power down might have been something they did to keep it "fair" with the competitors who while might be flying faster at times, have maneuvers they do which reduce the ground speed. By keeping the gear out, it keeps the plane slower and thus makes his times more "comparable" to what the spectators would see from the competition aircraft.

From telecasts of Red Bull races I have watched, I have the impression that the aircraft are in constant radio communication with an airboss type person on the ground who has visual contact with the aircraft. If the plan had not been to keep the gear down, surely the pilot would have been advised that they were down.

August

Mebbee he was required to keep the gear down as a sign of non-aggression or surrender? A'WRIGHTT..I'm going! Let me get my coat...

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The aircraft was in Chino last month and it takes some weeks to get to Asia by ship. Upon reassembly perhaps they didn't have time or the wing jacks to swing the gear so they left it down and locked.

What airport were they flying the Zero from? And will it be based at said airfield from now on?

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Other videos on YouTube from the same event show the Zero flying with the gear retracted. I realize that doesn't solve anything other than if they were having gear issues they must have rectified them. Gear up or down it is good to see such an airplane being operated in Japan. Hopefully it means good things for the future.

My statements are uncalled for because I am stating the obvious? I never called the pilot stupid, that was YOUR word. All I said was he made a mistake. This pilot is very inexperienced in single engine high performance warbirds. Not a big deal because everybody has to start somewhere. I just hope he can learn from this mistake and grow to become an awesome warbird pilot!

It's very obvious that you are not a pilot because your statements make no sense.

Out of the many multiple flights this Zero made, both at the home field and at the Red Bull Races, this flight on June 3rd is the only one with the gear hanging. It is retracted in every other video, including ones on June 4th. Do some research on-line and you will discover this.

BTW, ALL pilots make mistakes, some worse than others. The idea is to not make the serious mistakes. Nobody is infallible, ESPECIALLY warbird pilots. If the world's greatest pilot who ever lived, (C.Y.) can make a very simple pilot error that totaled a warbird, then anybody can do it. If the highest time former F-14 demo pilot / highly regarded warbird airshow pilot can forget to lower the landing gear on a very rare F-86 and land gear up, anybody can do it. There are many other examples and I can go on and on. The point is, all pilots make mistakes. This is just another example of that. You seem to be overly defensive of this guy thinking he can do no wrong. I would suggest you talk to an experienced warbird pilot and ask them why all of your statements you posted are bunk.

They staged it out of Ryugasaki airfield for the Red Bull demos. My understanding is that the Zero will not be "permanently" based in Japan. I've heard that the Japanese civil aviation authority will not let it be registered and/or certified, hence the aircraft will retain an FAA registration.

Don't bet on that. It's entirely possible that whoever saw that and was in communication with him intentionally withheld that information. Remember, the Asian culture is entirely different from Western society. They have big issues with "saving face" and "respecting elders" and not publicly embarrassing those superior to you. Don't believe me, read the NTSB report on the Asiana crash in San Francisco. They crashed a perfectly good aircraft and killed people because, in part, of cultural sensitivities. It is a "known" problem in the Asian aviation community.

Actually, I am a pilot, thank you for that. But you do call him stupid. You may not use that word specifically, but to call it "obvious" that he "forgot" to retract the gear is making assumptions of his mental workings at the time. Again, there is nothing in evidence from ANYONE or ANYTHING posted online to say that an error was made. The video you post appears to be the FIRST demonstration by the Zero at the Air Race. All the other videos I found are of later demonstrations either that day or following days. Again, we don't know any of the other circumstances or radio communication around this.

Also, the Japanese aviation culture does not have the problems with "saving face" that some others have. There is a very specific reason why the Japanese airlines have a much better safety record than some of the others - they took CRM to heart and embrace it. It's resulted in much safer operations in Japan and it's why they don't have accidents like Asiana.

So, we are to believe that a Japanese Flight Instructor, who just assembled a plane shipped in from the U.S. forgot to raise his gear, and that someone on the ground didn't want to embarrass him by not pointing out that his gear was down? Information that could jeopardize the pilot and aircraft safety? In a country that values safety very highly?

I don't think so.

My .02 cents, if it's worth that much, is that I immediately thought to myself that your statements were pure conjecture and there are any number of reasons why the aircraft may have been operating with the gear down. While I may have stated something along the lines of "I wonder why the aircraft was being flown gear down" I certainly would not of jumped to the conclusion it was pilot error and then floated the idea that he may have damaged the airplane. Not that I found your comments particularly egregious, I just would not have gone there myself. Just sayin'...

I'm not a pilot, But I've watched a jet racer at Reno, with R2D2 helping out in the back seat, fly around the course with his flaps down. Saw a P-40 at Chino fly laps with his flaps down too. My father took the whole family up in his 310 with an electric towbar still on the nose gear. Oops is a way of saying we landed safely in spite of the mistake. Whether the Zero pilot made a mistake or not, these things do happen. Whatever the circumstances, I would rather have the gear up if there's any chance of losing power over water. My uneducated guess would be they decided to keep it simple on a first flight.

This kind of "armchair's expertise" is one reason lot of warbird's operators and owner had left this board.

How could you judge a pilot only on a Youtube video ?

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