Harrier Lands Gear-up at Pensacola, Florida Blue Angel Airshow in 1986

[@NitroGuyJH]

Thank you Ronnie for sharing this with everyone!

[@gotrox1]

Rare footage indeed! Thanks for sharing!

[@lawrencemartin1113]

As the pilot was unstrapping prior to leaving the aircraft, ATC was still on frequency and heard the following, "Dear Admiral of the Fleet, it is with regret that I offer you my resignation......"

[@myutubehandle]

I was there, too. I arrived just after the mishap, saw the plume of smoke and dust. I still have a photo I snapped of that Harrier sitting on its belly. (I later learned ir was a gear failure, not pilot error.) But my favorite part of the airshow was when the show announcer later gave a patriotic introduction for an American USMC Harrier (that I think might not have been officially scheduled, but was included after the Royal Navy Harrier demo went south) I vaguely recall he made a reference to the botched Royal Navy Harrier demo, and said the Marines were stepping in to show us how it's done. Marines in attendance shouted and barked with ample enthusiasm. That USMC Harrier demo remains the best I ever saw. I recall Bob Hope attended the air show, since it was the 75th anniversary of the USN Aviation.

[@bobg1069]

If it was a gear failure, why did he do a slow rolling landing and not a vertical landing? that doesn't make sense.

[@dartmaster501]

@@bobg1069 At 0:56 they said they can't do vertical takeoffs and landings because they needed special reinforced concrete to do it on. May have been part of it.

[@kevinmason9579]

It was not a gear failure.

[@myutubehandle]

@@kevinmason9579 I always assumed it wasn't, but read in the paper it was. But hey! If I was the PR rep for the Royal Navy at the USN homecoming/75th anniversary air show, I'd sure as hell say it was gear failure! :) According to my brother, a USN pilot trainee in attendance that day, during the botched landing a Royal Navy flight line crewman was supposedly seen storming off yelling "Bloody hell he forgot his gear!" Or was that just the rumor mill having fun? We'll never know.

[@myutubehandle]

@@bobg1069 I only know what I read in the local paper... at the show the word on the flight line was pilot error, which is certainly easy to believe. Dunno, I'd have to ask a Harrier pilot.

[@BBarker34]

“Another happy landing!” - Obi Wan

[@archerry6457]

Seven Argentinian A4 pilots disliked this video.

[@richabt1]

Wow...I was there when this happened. Aside from this mishap it was an amazing show. My brother was stationed at NAS Pensacola back then.

[@silverfox1546]

I was there too!!!’ 8th grader.

[@Madeyes6]

Happened again to an RAF GR7 in chile but that time it carried on & was repaired & flying through next day.

[@dlvox5222]

I was there. Going through SAR School at the time. Damn. Big mishap.

[@AAa-cf1oe]

💚

[@LugoL-jx6wi]

So, did the gear failed, or did he forget to lower it? Seems to me he forgot to lower the gear. It happened a lot back in the day, during British trials.

[@rollosnook3031]

in 1940 during the Battle of Britain, the Polish joined the RAF and gave extremely valuable service. There was one big problem during the training though, Polish pilots had never seen folding undercarriage before, so quite a few pilots belly landed their Spitfires and Hurricanes on the familiarization flight.

[@Matt-ms5hi]

@TheBigHase He didn't explain what happened though, he just told a story of how the aircraft was essentially destroyed when they tried to load it on a truck after the crash.

[@BrySkye]

@@Matt-ms5hi Which is not true, by the way. There was another mishap on the loader, but it wasn't further damaged. The aircraft, ZD609 was transported back to the UK and returned to service. It met its ultimate fate in a crash in 1991.

[@stevebaldwin4154]

Something not to dissimilar occurred at RAF Wittering in the eighties during the training of an Indian Naval pilot.

[@jordancoleman2402]

Think there would be a sensor and big light flashing saying "HEY DIP SHIT YOUR GEAR IS UP DO NOT LAND!!!"

[@fawzyh1860]

This is their beginning in the British Bruce trade

[@atomsky6598]

Always put the landing gear lever in the down position before exiting the cockpit.

[@georgebarnes8163]

The landing gear failed, hence the problem

[@Turboy65]

What an amazing display of focus, training, and professionalism. Not.

[@grahamthebaronhesketh.]

Must have been gear fail because all the alarms in the cockpit howl below 150 knots if the wheels are not down.

[@FISHH00KS]

I didn't know they had cell phones back in 1986!!!!!!!!!!!

[@CJR505]

Shoulder mounted VHS video camera.

[@wolfganglauda5630]

Well any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. But any landing you can use the aircraft again is a great landing. I'm guessing this was not a great landing.

[@donneuberg2263]

I was there and saw it happen. Bummer.

[@superancientmariner1394]

It was a landing gear failure.

[@WakeMarine]

Unlikely. If it was a failure he had a few more options. High G's, Blow Down Bottle, or hover it onto the strakes.

[@georgebarnes8163]

@@WakeMarine Well documented as equipment failure

[@fz1000red]

One of my biggest regrets during those years, when the C.O. asked what I wanted to fly I told the LtCol I wanted to fly the F/A-18. His reply? "Sheeit son! My fucking Grandma wants to fly the F18! Why don't you want to fly the Harrier?" I said I heard they break too much and crash a lot. Wrong thing to say to a higher ranking Harrier pilot!

[@dreamersrock1865]

He forgot to put landing gear down...😁

[@KATAERO1]

Hopefully it was not a career-ending one?

[@elifoust7664]

Sherman CRASH to the rescue ...Crash siren...1978-05....NASFD.

[@1000saib]

That's called "Double" Tragedy...sad

[@TakeDeadAim]

Ooooooooooops!lol! "I'll take those wings Captain and oh....you're in hack until the Marine Corps ball"

[@tima5322]

oops

[@callsignstatic6872]

Beautiful plane and rare footage - too bad none of them will ever fly again - They are old news now but EPIC Make way for the F-35

[@inekemateman273]

Not for Art Nalls, he don't!

[@ChileMiPais]

Static Static , sorry chum! Youre gonna wish they kept the harrier. The F-35 is a cow Nn

[@Tomteeejay]

A Sea Harrier is still flying. It is in private hands in the US. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGOnlZasadx8aac artnalls.com/

[@Booyaka9000]

One flying on the East Cast of the US, another one style flying from Yeo by QinetiQ. But sure, they'll *never* fly again... lol.

[@Jake-rs9nq]

@@ChileMiPais The F-35 could take out 6 harriers without the harriers even realizing they're under fire. I agree that the Harrier is a great piece of engineering, but it is no match for a modern fighter!

[@andrewward9601]

What an embarassing end to a fantastic display 🙄☺️☺️☺️

[@rubytwoshoes1032]

Clear landing gear failure, the harrier has a audiable warning for gear so he hadn't forgotton to put it down lol. he brought her exactly how they are trained for such an issue.

[@CJR505]

Don’t think so. No calls were made to atc, fire trucks weren’t rolling, emergency procedures weren’t ran through. There were no communications of an emergency with the landing gear. He forgot to put the gear down. Not uncommon. His demo teammates had no idea as well, yet another indication he forgot to put the gear down. If there was an issue with the gear, fire / crash & rescue would have been in position long before the gear up landing.

[@puterausman7682]

The thing is if pegasus engine Run out water, they will lose power and idle back to bellow 100 percent...while to hover they need to be at 110 percent of power..that water was use to cool down the engine while it over powered. This accident happen simply because the pilot use up all the water in the tank and the engine power down.

[@CJR505]

What????? Negative.. He forgot to put the gear down for his roll on landing. There were no emergency transmissions to ATC.. Nothing.. When they ran out of water, they could still fly normally.. They just couldn’t go into VTOL mode and had to keep the engine under a certain RPM and Nozzle setting. The engine didn’t power down until after the gear up landing when the pilot retarded the throttle, killing the engine. Simple case of forgetting to put the gear down.

[@texasfathead]

That was typical for British pilots I flew in the Air Force for 12 years over in Germany and England and I hate to say this but the British just aren't very good pilots🤠