One Of Ten Aircraft Participating In Conference

A Korean War-vintage North American F-86 Sabre fighter (file photo of type, below) experienced problems landing Saturday, following a Heritage Flight performance at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base outside Tucson, AZ.

The Sabre -- flown by a civilian pilot under contract with the Air Force for the Air Combat Command Heritage Flight Conference -- landed gear-up when the aircraft experienced unspecified difficulties. Davis-Monthan issued a release stating the pilot was not injured.

Nine other aircraft participating in the Heritage Flight -- in which current Air Force fighters fly in formation with their older jet-and-propeller-driven ancestors (below)-- were diverted to Tucson International Airport. Spokeswoman Paula Winn told KVOA those aircraft landed without incident.

The spectacle of seeing the Sabre land without its gear jarred witnesses.

"My son and I were watching the jet's landing and we noticed it didn't have it's landing gear down and we thought it was going to fly by," said Tom Colvin, "but it kept going down and down and down and then there was a puff of smoke and a big ball of flames."

Neither Davis-Monthan nor the Air Combat Command would provide further details on the incident, citing an ongoing investigation.

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IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: UNK        Make/Model: F86       Description: F-86 SABRE
  Date: 03/04/2006     Time: 2200

  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Minor

LOCATION
  City: TUCSON   State: AZ   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  REGISTRATION UNKNOWN, F-86 CIVILIAN OWNED ACFT, PARTICIPATING IN FORMATION
  FLYING, LANDED WITH THE GEAR RETRACTED, DAVIS-MONTHAN AFB, TUCSON, AZ

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA

  Departed:                             Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination:                          Flt Plan:              Wx Briefing: 
  Last Radio Cont: 
  Last Clearance: 

  FAA FSDO: SCOTTSDALE, AZ  (WP07)                Entry date: 03/06/2006

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.dm.af.mil