[img]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20030517/i/1053171982.3289210997.jpg[/img]

Women activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council practice the art of fighting with swords at a summer training camp in Bombay May 17, 2003. Over 100 camps have been created across India to train hundreds of thousands of Hindu girls between the age of 15 to 35 in karate, judo, and combat with knives and swords. Asked about the need for such training, a VHP leader said it was required to improve the physical, mental and spiritual capabilities of the women activists. REUTERS/Sherwin Crasto



[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20030518/mdf279917.jpg[/img]

The mother of 18-year-old suicide bomber Bassem al-Takrouri from the West Bank city of Hebron, holds up a picture of her son May 18, 2003. Al-Takrouri, bomber disguised as a religious Jew killed seven people on a Jerusalem bus on Sunday, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to put off a White House trip to discuss a U.S.-backed peace plan. (Loay Abu Haykel/Reuters)



[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030518/capt.1053296178.iraq_us_military_abl103.jpg[/img]

U.S. Army Arabic-speaking linguist Spc. Joshua W Henry pauses to finish a glass of tea while translating for an Iraqi man, during a conversation between the man and U.S. Army officers from the 3rd Battalion of the 101 Airborne Brigade inside a home in the village of Alganah in northwestern Iraq, about 30 kms from the Syrian border, Sunday, May 18, 2003. Several dozen soldiers at once take part in such 'presence patrols' to remote areas of northern Iraq, the design being to establish a clear U.S. security presence and rapport with local citizens, say U.S. Army field officers. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)



[img]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20030518/i/1053285477.3221225555.jpg[/img]

Former Iraqi army officers demanding three months back pay protest in front of a building where the U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, was meeting with city council members in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul May 18, 2003. The U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, said on Sunday he was pushing ahead with setting up an Iraqi interim authority, denying media reports that Washington was suspending the transition process. REUTERS/Roberto Schmidt



[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030519/capt.1053314204.selling_safety_wx103.jpg[/img]

An F-14 lands at Fentress with the wheels in the up position in this April 2001 photo, which was used as the back cover of the June 2001 issue of one of the Naval Safety Center's magazines, 'Approach'. In peace and war, off duty and on, a few hundred service members die in accidents each year, and thousands are injured. So promoting everyday safety is a serious military strategy. (AP Photo/Department of Defense, LCDR Steven Froncillo)



[img]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20030519/i/1053331924.3356041279.jpg[/img]

Hayley Smithers holds the world's biggest cockroach, an Australian Burrowing Cockroach, in Sydney on May 19, 2003. Workers in Australia's pet industry say the demand for insects as pets has risen in the past five years because of cramped living, and this includes the number of people befriending cockroaches, with the biggest of the species native to Australia. REUTERS/David Gray



[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030519/capt.1053334792.indonesia_aceh_jak110.jpg[/img]

Members of Indonesian elite police force BRIMOB (Mobile Brigade) hang on a helicopter during a drill in Jakarta, Monday, May 19, 2003. Indonesia is reinforcing their security efforts to combat terrorism following the major military offensive against separatist rebels in Aceh. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)



[img]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20030519/i/1053319072.3691192385.jpg[/img]

A Chinese university student hugs his girlfriend through a fence after the campus was sealed to prevent SARS in the north China city of Shenyang May 18, 2003. The outbreak of SARS, which first appeared in the southern province of Guangdong last November, has spread to most of China's 30 other provinces and major cities. REUTERS

[img]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20030519/i/1053331924.3356041279.jpg[/img]



Can you say [b]TARGET[/b]?

Its a waterbug.

Bump for the night shift.

Approach Magazine Rocks. Great stories and things to make you think.


Aviator

[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030519/capt.1053314204.selling_safety_wx103.jpg[/img]

I see this F-14, what's left of it anyway quite often. I fly radio controlled planes and we are allowed to use the runway at Fentress N.A.L.F. on weekends and holidays.

The rest of the story is........

The pilot was waved off SEVERAL times and the training officer in the back seat was lax in telling the rookie pilot in the front seat as to why he was waved off. A good hint would be the female voice in your headset saying "GEAR, GEAR, GEAR" over and over after you dropped below a certain airspeed and altitude. There are also several other "safety" measures automatic to an F-14 to prevent a wheels up landing. Apparently all were ignored. Flaps cannot be set to the landing position without the gear being in the down position, there are others, but the female voice SHOULD be more than enough. GEAR, GEAR, GEAR........

The plane has been scavenged for parts and is now used for fire rescue training.

The pilot never qualified in an F-14 and was booted from fighter school, I hear he's flying transport/cargo planes...........

I kind of feel bad for the guy, but it takes ALOT of inattention to land a $20 million plane with the gear retracted.

The training officer was cleared in any wrongdoing, it was determined that the pilot should have figured it out. It was determined that it was good for the training officer to allow him to fail after so many clear warnings.

UGH! What a waste of such a beautiful plane. That's one more less F-14 in the inventory, and all due to extreme stupidty. What a true shame. [:(]


Thanks J_R.

I feel the pain too...

Hell, it ain't that hard to put the gear down on a Tomcat, especially with a big-ass white handle on the left-lower console clearly labled GEAR. It just happens to be the biggest handle aside from the ejection seat handle. What an idiot.

There are two kinds of pilots:

Those who have landed with the gear up, and those who are going to.

Its actually a lot easier than you would think.


Aviator

Thanks J/R, I missed it the first time....

[img]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20030517/i/1053171982.3289210997.jpg[/img]


Hey, this is how I shave too.

Target.

like the store?

If the pilot forgot to drop the gear, then why is is hanging from the sides?

MG