Talks P-51 Pilot Through A Landing Gear Issue To A Safe Touchdown

When flying a vintage P-51D Mustang, one of the things a pilot certainly doesn't want to see is a lack of green lights indicating the plane's landing gear are down and locked before landing.

P-51D File Photo

But that's what happened to pilot Chuck Gardner and his passenger Bill Barton Sunday afternoon as they approached Mobile Downtown Airport. And it was 90-year-old WWII P-51 veteran Bob Hoover to the rescue.

According to a blog appearing on the website Alabama Live, the two were at the end of a scheduled 30 minute flight when only the starboard and tail wheels deployed during preparation for landing. Gardner was put in touch by radio with Hoover, who instructed him on a few maneuvers he knew to coax the stuck gear out of the wheel well. One of them worked, and the plane landed safely with no structural damage, and no damage to either of the souls on board.

Bob Hoover

Gardner flew the plane out over Mobile Bay and then over the Mobile River Delta and executed about 30-40 minutes of positive and negative G maneuvers, described by Barton as being "like a really neat roller coaster." He said he eventually heard a "jarring sound," and Gardner announce that he had three green.

Gardner said later that a gear-up landing in the P-51 was probably survivable, but that Hoover's efforts prevented extensive damage to a rare and valuable airplane. The P-51D is owned by Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Dallas. It was taking part in an air nostalgia weekend at Alabama Aviation Center.

FMI: www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hoover