A 1944 P-51 Mustang that was forced to make an emergency gear-up landing at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (IWA).

The $2.2-million aircraft had a problem with its landing gear. Pilot and owner Jeffrey Pino managed to walk away unhurt after performing a classic belly landing in his 1944 North American P-51 Mustang after the landing gear malfunctioned and refused to extend. Pino is the former president of Sikorsky Aircraft.

The plane was going to be part of the Copper State Fly-in this week in Casa Grande. It happened during filming for a promotional video as part of the Copper State Fly-in in Casa Grande, AZ.

Good thing he's got a lot of money, cause the Mustang's Merlin engine, prop and underside will be pricey to be repair. But it is repairable and Mr. Pino should be up again in the air with his 'Big Beautiful Doll' again soon.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Looks as if he did a pretty nice job of that wheels-up landing. Certainly should be repairable.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I'd have been sobbing the whole time I watched the shadow rise to meet me.

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it just needs more voltage

Great Pilot! He obviously killed the engine rotation before touchdown and only ruined two of the four blades. I doubt the engine will have to be torn down. During WW II, the ground squad would have that bird back in the air in three days. ............. Big Cholla

I hate seeing things like that.

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No good deed goes unpunished.

Keep in mind that these planes are 70+ years old. It's a miracle any of them are still flying. It looks like the pilot did a very credible job of minimizing the damage.
Jim

Chump change for this guy to repair,
Like someone else said, doubt the engine was hurt
much if at all.
He did a great landing "with the cockpit pointed up".

Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

Shiny side up and greasy side down---the rest is unimportant.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

I hate to see a good plane messed up. I'm just glad he made a good landing (meaning he walked away from it) and that the plane is repairable.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Just like a race car. They are all **** boxes.....it is the thing that has red fluids in it that matters !!!

Tom

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch...

My pilot friend told me anytime the prop touches the ground , It`s a mandatory engine rebuild.
Too bad about the crash , it almost makes me wonder when is a object a National treasure and too valuable to risk? WW2 aircraft may soon become that treasure.I believe that there is a company actually building new P-51`s , they would be ok to risk, since they are not original war vintage.

That would be true IF the engine were developing power when the prop struck ground. Even then, under some conditions, the engine could be checked with dial indicators and a judgement call made as to the necessity of a rebuild. This engine was not even turning when two props drug. It looks to me like just the tips were folded over without much undue force being placed on the prop hub or the engine crankshaft. Of course this pilot/owner can afford the best so he very well may have a spare engine back home and will go the whole effort and swap the engine out for a bench inspection. If I had his money, I would. ...... Big Cholla

You're right. If the engine wasn't turning when the prop struck, no damage will be done internally, unless it was a hard strike, and won't require a tear down of the engine. Doesn't appear so. At most, a bore scope of the crankshaft to be sure.
I had to land a small twin engine plane gear up once. I shut down the engines on final and rotated the two blade props horizontally so they wouldn't hit. The owner who was leasing the plane out was upset that I did that because he said he would have gotten two new engines if I had left them running. It was just the nose gear that wouldnt lock down.
Sometimes you just can't win.

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“Look life in its iron face”

That's a shame about the plane, but what strikes me is that this guy is one helluva good pilot. I guess when you're flying something you own that's worth over $2 million, you know how to be especially careful with it.

It would be interesting to know a bit of the back story. I guess he must have been aware for some time prior to landing, that the gear would not deploy. I assume this gave him ample time to plan what he was going to do, to burn off or dump fuel, to have the prop stop turning, and to glide in hopes of the best result. I guess the runway landing was a better option than setting her down on a nice flat patch of earth.

Thinking about it, I'm sure the guys who own these classic warbirds probably talk at length with each other about what to do in forced-landing situations and other challenges to their aircraft.

Still and all, just an amazing job of landing.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

I'd bet less than 36 hours. Probably closer to 24 if there was push on. Remember they did not work 9-5.

My favorite WWll plane....

One of my favorites up here at the air races.

Hate to see a classic land the hard way.......
but that type of landing is a heck of a lot better than some
of the landings that we have had in the last few years.

Nose first does not work !!

I know that hurt the olde wallet. Man there is nothing like the sound of those planes especially an old radial engine starting up! Was standing near an F4U couple years ago when he fired it up.....now that would be a cool phone ring tone!!

Q: Do you know how a pilot knows when he's made a wheels
up landing?

A: He needs take off power to taxi.

Trueism: When pilots are with women, they talk about planes.
When pilots are in planes, they talk about women.

A plane is like a woman: as soon as one leaves,
there's another one coming around the pattern.


I used to be a Flight Instructor and Commercial pilot, so I know
these are true.

Heard a guy here in town bragging about his son.
This kid is a CA dot-com millionaire and a Mustang owner.
He had just got a 'new' engine for his Mustang.
I asked, new? Not rebuilt?
He replies NEW Merlin.
I don't normally ask this, but this is not normal.
How much was it?
$250,000 plus.
I guess if you got enough money, you can buy most anything.

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From Airliners.net
A July 24 listing in Mustangs,Mustangs shows the following:

Surviving complete P-51 airframes 289

Airworthy 156

On display 57

Under repairs/restoration 51

In storage 21

Status unknown 4

Gotta take care of the survivors!!

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

The main purpose of the propeller is to keep the pilot cool...

Don't believe me? Let the prop stop turning and watch the pilot start sweating!!!

I hate to see metal get bent on these old warbirds, however this one looks like it turned out as good as it could have.

Edmo

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TRUTH: Don't delete my posts!

Grey lettering on a light background is really hard to read.

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A closed mouth gathers no foot

Sorry, it was a simple cut and paste. I had no control over color. If you hi lite text with your mouse it will be readable.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

As I sat on the back porch yesterday afternoon with a friend and a pot of coffee, the air show at Ellington was in full swing. The 17's and other WWII aircraft flying overhead.
Love the sound of those pistons.
Good place to see the show from.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

With drag race engines we never gave it much thought we just got another one to build.

In the old days with my 57 chevy I had the big valve heads and a z28 solid lifter cam, valve train and a eldebrock intake w/780 Holley. I'd race the he'll out of that used short block till she blew. Pull the cam and heads get another used short block and do it again. One time a used 283 short block with my heads and cam beat a 400 firebird. Being a teenager it was fun.

Hi William how are you doing.

Those radial engines gives me goose bumps. The sounds. I believe I died in ww2 on one bombing Germany. Everytime I hear one before I see it I know what it is.

I wonder if the radiator needs work. It's right on the bottom of the plane and was vulnerable to enemy small arms fire. That's why some pilots preferred the more rugged P-47 for ground attacks.

It also had a more rugged radial engine.

Funny how this thread came back to life!
When I looked to see if they got Big Beautiful Doll flying again,
Yes They Did!
Now for the bad news- on Feb 5, 2016 Big Beautiful Doll crashed and killed the owner
Jeff Pinto and the guy with him.

http://www.worldwarbirdnews.com/2016...sh-in-arizona/

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

That's some terrible old news. I didn't know before this.

What goes up, must come down does not apply to aircraft with retractable landing gear.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

gravity always wins,

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Carpriver.

This was 10 days ago at the Dayton Air Show. Somebody's not gettin a promotion.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I wonder if the conversation went like this: "Sure, I can make an inverted landing! Just hold my beer and watch!"

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Bill

Speaking of Mustangs--teh one that famously flew through the Eiffel Tower in order to shoot down his German enemy--is a fully restored bird--or one named for it.