I don’t mean when the pilot forgets to PUT it down, I’m talking about when one or more the landing gear simply won’t come out of the well. Or, they may come out of the well but fail to lock in place. Instances like this are not as rare as you think. The gear could have been damaged on the catapult shot. It could have taken battle damage. A tire blown on take-off may have been retracted into the well and now it won’t come out. There are literally dozens of ways that landing gear can get hung up.
Fortunately, each aircraft has its own way of coping with this emergency. Some involve powerful hydraulic accumulators; some involve compressed air bottles. In the case of the A-4 Skyhawk the solution is simple, just like the rest of the airplane. The landing gear retract forward, and once stowed in the wheel well the hydraulics are depressurized and the gear simply rest on the doors. In an emergency, the pilot pulls a cable that unlocks the gear doors and the landing gear fall into the air stream. Air loads lock the gear down nice and tight.
The pucker factor goes abruptly northward when one of the main gear will not come down. For many fighter-type aircraft this is an ejection situation. History shows that attempting to land with just a nose gear and one main landing gear extended can result in a fireball with loss of both airplane and crew. If the two good landing gear will retract — definitely go for a smooth belly landing!
That’s what happened to the Bluehawk A-4E in these photos. Damage was limited to the two 300-gallon tanks and a little metal on the nose. The airplane flew the next day.
I'm one of those Americans who was born during the Great Depression, watched WWII as a young boy, and eventually used the U.S. Navy as my ticket to leave my little home town and to confront the jarring reality of flying combat Naval Aviation. I learned my trade well. I flew 33 types of aircraft, including virtually all of the high-performance fighters of my day. I accumulated more than 800 carrier arrested landings and flew 138 combat missions over North Vietnam. I became the Navy's Chief Test Pilot, testing the F-14 Tomcat, the Swedish Viggen and many other aircraft. I managed to get the Tomcat into the first flat spin EVER -- my back-seater and I barely escaped with our lives.
But, I'm retired now -- one of those old, bold aviators. I set my thoughts and combat experiences to print back in 2010 (it was an unpublished family affair) -- then put them aside for eight years. In 2018 I cleaned up that old book, shorted it, re-worded it, re-shuffled it and brought it up to date. I nervously and with much hesitation published it on Amazon in May, 2018. Surprise! The book, Above Average -- Naval Aviation the Hard Way -- has sold thousands of copies and remains a solid 5-star book today!
Stephen Coonts (author of Flight of the Intruder) wrote a very flattering review of Above Average. The preface to my book deals with a single-plane sortie against the fabled Than Hoa bridge in North Vietnam (flown by yours truly). Steve asked to use that very same vignette as the prologue to his new book, Dragon's Jaw, which is all about the American air effort to drop that bridge. Of course, I was happy to comply!
If you're interested in reading about guts, determination and triumph from someone who had a front row seat, you might give my book a try. When you're finished, I would love to hear your thoughts.
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One thought on “When the Landing Gear Doesn’t Come Down”
I am a 61 year old female. I was a child during the Vietnam War. I was given a copy of D. D. Smith’s book and I read it twice. I finally really understand what these naval aviators spent their time doing. In great and very entertaining detail, D. D. relives his decorated career. It was hard to put this book down. It’s fascinating to be in the cockpit with this amazing pilot. He’s very fortunate to be alive. A movie should be made about this historic story. Thank you to D. D. Smith for sharing his epic story.
Above Average 
I am a 61 year old female. I was a child during the Vietnam War. I was given a copy of D. D. Smith’s book and I read it twice. I finally really understand what these naval aviators spent their time doing. In great and very entertaining detail, D. D. relives his decorated career. It was hard to put this book down. It’s fascinating to be in the cockpit with this amazing pilot. He’s very fortunate to be alive. A movie should be made about this historic story. Thank you to D. D. Smith for sharing his epic story.
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