Edit- It figures… I’m on a redeye and the damn post doesn’t go up as scheduled… sorry…
Sometimes it’s a GOOD thing to be in a Harrier…
And having a footstool handy…
Kudos not only to the pilot, but the Marines to have the forethought to actually PLAN for something like this…
Yet another feat of naval aviation.
That pilot has some very impressive skills, and you’re right that it’s also very impressive that they thought ahead far enough to be ready for this kind of contingency.
As for planning, when I first saw that I thought, “Why didn’t they cushion the ‘footstool’?”.
Good piloting save that airframe, but I wonder, since the nosegear would have hydraulic dampers.
Impressive!
Wow. That’s the Right Stuff, right there. And a proof that Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
I just put up a post on this at my place. The two vacant headed Muppets at Fox News were commenting on this feat. They described it as landing on a foot stool. Apparently neither of them could fathom that there might be a contingency plan for this sort of thing.
Idiots.
And yeah, it was a nice piece of flying. Or is it landing?
That was great! Can’t imagine trying to do it, but that’s why they are always training. Kudos to all involved!
Aaron- Yep!
Ed- Any ‘padding’ would either end up in the intake, or two counties over…
WSF- Yep, pinpoint landings… 🙂
BP- Doesn’t it! 😀
TOTW- They used to use stools with wheels to roll airplanes around, either that, or they couldn’t come up with a better description…
MC- Yep! 😀
Kudo’s to the airframe designers…the nose and radome took a severe thumping and held together.
Heck, Chuck Norris could have stood where the stool was and caught and held the nose up. Great thinking and planning, bet it was a Chief (or and Airman) who came up with the idea.
Mike- Amen to that!
CP- LOL, they actually designed one for just that occurrence. We used to make do with pallets and mattresses…
Hydraulic cushion, not upholstery.
Yeah, we used to keep a couple of spare mattresses in the line shack for that. They came in handy for naps, too.
Ed- Yep…
Don- That they did (not that ‘I’ would know that)… 🙂
I remember seeing an example of a similar landing once at an air show. A large bag of grass seed was laid on the ramp. The Harrier hovered, slowly came down, touched the bag with the nose wheel, backed up a few feet and landed. I know he had help from someone ’cause he couldn’t see the bag from his cockpit. Nevertheless, it was impressive.