IranAir 727 Landing - no nose gear!

Delta Kilo

Apologies if this has been posted already.

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

Just one week ago on October 18th, an IranAir Boeing 727 landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport without the use of its front landing gear, after the bay of the nose gear failed to open on approach.

The crew performed a landing without the nose gear on runway 29L and came to a stand still on both the main gear and the nose of the aircraft. The flight, traveling from Moscow to Iran, held 94 passengers and 19 crew members; none were injured in the landing.

Amazing pilot skill on an older aircraft, even better than the Jet blue i reckon because at least they had the gear down.

Turbo Porter

Delta Kilo wrote: »

Amazing pilot skill on an older aircraft, even better than the Jet blue i reckon because at least they had the gear down.

The Iran Air landing would have been easier than the Jetblue one.The nose wheel was down in the Jetblue but was rotated at 90 degree angle serious friction here as opposed to a little belly scraping with the Iran air.

Delta Kilo

I dont know, its pretty debatable.

At least the jet blue aircraft had stability and the friction would have aided in stopping the aircraft. Think of how accurate the pilot had to be in this case with his use of spoiler, elevator, reverse thrust and braking force to keep everything in balance. Get it wrong and slam the nose into the runway soon after touchdown potentially causing the fuselage to break up, or get it wrong the other way and you end up gliding along and ending up off the end of the runway.

Lots of margin for error but the pilot got it bang on.

alan85

Delta Kilo wrote: »

I dont know, its pretty debatable.

At least the jet blue aircraft had stability and the friction would have aided in stopping the aircraft. Think of how accurate the pilot had to be in this case with his use of spoiler, elevator, reverse thrust and braking force to keep everything in balance. Get it wrong and slam the nose into the runway soon after touchdown potentially causing the fuselage to break up, or get it wrong the other way and you end up gliding along and ending up off the end of the runway.

Lots of margin for error but the pilot got it bang on.

I think you should learn how to fly both types and know the weather conditions on the given days before saying. If it was me, as a P.P.L. pilot, I'd want the 727 over the A320 with stuck nose gear. The thing about the stuck gear was that the tires had blown and ended up with metal on tarmac creating sparks. It didn't look pretty to me and given the right circumstances I think could have ended up a lot worse. At least with no nose gear you have greater directional authority because you have greater time between flare and the nose touching the runway than had you the nose gear down... in my opinion.

CaptainSkidmark

Spectacular landing!

Buffman

Pilot did an excellent job, he kept the nose up a lot longer than I was expecting, even with the break in the video at 0.37 sec. Looks like minimal damage caused, maybe EP-IRR might even fly again.

MUSEIST

Amazing stuff from the pilot.Kept that nose up as long as possible and put it down smootly.

Run_to_da_hills

Buffman wrote: »

Pilot did an excellent job, he kept the nose up a lot longer than I was expecting, even with the break in the video at 0.37 sec. Looks like minimal damage caused, maybe EP-IRR might even fly again.

Is that two 707's in the background?


Not including ground transport this photo could have been taken over 40 years ago. :eek:

charlemont

Awesome skill from the pilot.

Run_to_da_hills

charlemont wrote: »

Awesome skill from the pilot.

In par with Sullenberger, also both caught on cam.

Tenger

When I first read the headline (on another site) I thought it was a nosewheel collapse or similar.

That was an amazing piece of flying. What steady handling of the aircraft. It looked like he wasn't going to drop the nose at all!!

I assume as this was a B727 (with no Boeing support for 30+ years) it was completely hands-on?


And it relation to the retro feel, yep. IranAir operate 3 A320, everything else is old. B727, B747-200, B747SP, A300, A310. The cannot get access to modern aircraft due to the embargo against Iran. The have recently ordered 35 TU-204.
Also remember that the Iranian Air Force still have F-14 Tomcat's, F-4 Phantom's and F-5's in service!!!

Run_to_da_hills

Tenger wrote: »

When I first read the headline (on another site) I thought it was a nosewheel collapse or similar.

That was an amazing piece of flying. What steady handling of the aircraft. It looked like he wasn't going to drop the nose at all!!

I assume as this was a B727 (with no Boeing support for 30+ years) it was completely hands-on?


And it relation to the retro feel, yep. IranAir operate 3 A320, everything else is old. B727, B747-200, B747SP, A300, A310. The cannot get access to modern aircraft due to the embargo against Iran. The have recently ordered 35 TU-204.
Also remember that the Iranian Air Force still have F-14 Tomcat's, F-4 Phantom's and F-5's in service!!!

Any under wing engine pod aircraft would probably be in a ball of flames with the engines ripped off as soon as the nose touched the ground. There is something to be said for aft engines although they had their own problems.

I wonder will the pilot and crew have a reception with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Buffman

Tenger wrote: »

Also remember that the Iranian Air Force still have F-14 Tomcat's, F-4 Phantom's and F-5's in service!!!

Yep, in the background of the video there are a couple of Chinooks, something that looks like a Huey or Cobra, possible a C-130 and 5 747's.

xflyer

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I wonder will the pilot and crew have a reception with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Haven't they suffered enough stress?:( It's about time he found himself 'caught in crossfire'.

If the Iranians ever get over this crazy anti western mentality they would be one of the most modern countries in that region. Now they're forever trapped in 1979.

As for the landing, in fact it would be relatively straightforward if rather tense. Set up a stable approach on a long runway, maybe a slightly higher approach speed, keep the nose up. Avoid use of thrust reversers or brakes and gently lower the nose before it falls of it's own accord. Better for the pilot to place the nose down rather than have it fall abruptly.

That is not to minimise the skills required to carry that off. Nice job.