Pope flight engineer solves rare landing gear problem in AOR

Published March 13, 2008
By 2nd Lt. Chris Hoyler
43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs

POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- The prospect of getting up to work at 3 a.m. isn't normal for most Airmen, even those in deployed environments where anything less than a 10-hour day is an exception.

So imagine being pulled out of bed at that time after a long day of work that included a flight mission just hours earlier. To compound the fatigue problems, the reason for the wake up call is that your help is vital to solve a possibly catastrophic problem that just occurred on a flight preparing to land hundreds of miles away.

This was the situation Staff Sgt. Bryan McCraw, 2nd Airlift Squadron, faced earlier this year during his deployment to Southwest Asia. This performance and that of several others in a time-sensitive crisis helped the crew of CROME 36 overcome a rare, yet major landing gear malfunction to land safely, all in the span of less than an hour.

The landing gear malfunction happened when the crew of CROME 36 went in for their approach at the original destination, but did not receive indication on its left gear being "down and locked."

"It is not a very common occurrence," Sergeant McCraw said. "However, in the desert where the same plane is flown multiple times and performs multiple landings, the chances increase for this type of mishap."

The onboard crew of CROME 36 and those working that morning at the deployed location formed a plan of action, and McGraw was among those called to help figure out the problem. He was sleeping when Capt. Nick Whritenour, 2nd AS and Sergeant McCraw's aircraft commander, came into his room ready to take him to the Wing Operations Center. According to Captain Whritenour, Sergeant McGraw had just flown a 16-hour combat mission and got to bed at around midnight.

"He came into my room and all I heard was gear, low fuel, and cocked gear," Sergeant McCraw said. "So from the time I left my room and arrived at the Wing Operations Center I was running scenarios in my head as far as what could have happened."

Upon arrival to the Wing Operations Center, Sergeant McCraw worked with Master Sgt. Matthew Hurtado, who was deployed from Royal Air Force Mildenhall in England. Sergeant McCraw told Sergeant Hurtado the gear was wedged in the left wheel well four inches from being down in the front and six inches from being down in the back.

Then the news came that the flight engineer on board, Tech. Sgt. Nelson Reyes, had exhausted all written procedures to lower the landing gear. Sergeant McCraw advised the engineer to start cranking the left gear back up to free the jammed gear and to also remove a bushing that had become lodged in the shelf bracket. It was then when Sergeant McCraw's training back at Pope made the difference.

"I talked with the flight engineer and he told me that there appeared to be some type of bushing preventing the gear from free falling," Sergeant McCraw said. "I then remembered from past talks with some of the flight simulator guys at Pope what the problem was. That's when I decided to crank the gear back up enough to remove the bushing."

That solution helped some, but Sergeant Reyes said the gear was still partly jammed. Sergeant Hurtado advised him to continue to attempt to get the landing gear to move with the manual hand crank, but if that failed he would have to disconnect the landing gear's stub shafts.

"Basically you have a jack screw in which the gear rides up and down," Sergeant McCraw said. "Connecting the gear is two rods connected by four bolts, or stub shafts.

"To remove the rods requires taking off the main landing gear access panel to gain access to the rods to remove the four bolts, four on the forward gear and four on the rear. This can be a tedious and time consuming endeavor and if not done properly the falling gear could take your hand off."

Faced with that danger, Sergeant McCraw advised Sergeant Reyes that it would be best to continue trying to free the gear with the hand crank manually. Meanwhile, Sergeant McCraw and Maj. Glenn Rineheart, 2nd AS, discussed the fact that the crew was approaching the point when attempts to lower and lock the gear would need to be abandoned. This would have to be done to ensure the crew would have enough time to emergency chain the gear and land without running out of fuel.

"I told them to chain the gear as a precautionary measure that is also part of our procedures for this type of emergency," Sergeant McCraw said. "Once that is done you can do nothing else to ensure the safety of the aircraft."

It was a few moments later when the crew radioed back and said the manual attempts to lower the gear had finally worked and that all indications were that the gear was down and locked. Sergeants McCraw and Hurtado suggested they still chain the gear, and once they did the landing was completed without any problems.

"Tech. Sgt. McCraw truly embodies the Air Force core values -- Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do," Captain Whritenour said. "He went to the command post to be the expert on the ground for a difficult and unusual emergency situation.

"His knowledge and abilities were crucial to the crews executing flawless emergency procedures. Without his assistance, CROME 36 would have been in danger of landing without one of their main landing gears down."