The $7.9m landing gear screwup

This particular aircraft made a wheels-up landing at Dyess AFB in Texas at around 10pm local time on May 8 of this year. The Air Force Accident Investigation team concluded that the pilot forgot to deploy the landing gear.

Below appear to be loading crates and bladders used to raise the aircraft. This plane was landing after an 11 hour ferry mission from Guam.

Here you can see the damage to the nose of the aircraft. This crash, as previously mentioned, did $7.9 million worth of damage to the airframe—that's actually not a lot, considering that the airframe cost the US government around $285m (adjusted for inflation).

All four crewmembers escaped through a hatch on the top of the cockpit.

It took four days to remove the aircraft from the runway.

In addition to the multi-million dollar cost to the airframe, the landing strip sustained $14k worth of damage. It's something of a testament to the hardiness of the airstrip.

Here you can see the nose gear lowered after the aircraft was raised. During the landing, a fire did actually break out, but emergency crews extinguished it shortly thereafter.

At this point, it appears the craft is ready to be towed away.

My understanding is that even on inexpensive airliners (e.g., the well-under-$100m 737) it's really difficult to land with the gear up. Multiple position sensors and altimeters keep track of things and really make sure the pilot is aware he's getting close to the ground without the gear deployed.

Ouch.