Believed to be the first time in the four-decade history of the A-10 that a pilot has landed with no canopy and landing gear up, the Air Force said Maj. Brett DeVries, an A-10 pilot with the Michigan Air National Guard, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on Friday for an "extraordinary" emergency landing. 

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During a routine training flight, a gun failure caused an explosion that blew away the cockpit canopy, stripped the plane of several panels, and damaged the landing gear.

https://news.yahoo.com/air-force-10-pilot-earns-165748895.html

36 minutes ago, n4gix said:

Believed to be the first time in the four-decade history of the A-10 that a pilot has landed with no canopy and landing gear up, the Air Force said Maj. Brett DeVries, an A-10 pilot with the Michigan Air National Guard, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on Friday for an "extraordinary" emergency landing. 

 

https://news.yahoo.com/air-force-10-pilot-earns-165748895.html

That is awesome!  Not at all surprised that someone was able to do this with an A-10.  Truly an underrated aircraft that continues to stand the test of time.

Awesome...I feel like you could land the A-10 into a wall and there would just be a few dents.

Just touch up the paint and it will be ready to go!

He will relive this in his dreams forever, wake up and still be alive!

Congratulations to major DeVries on being awarded the DFC.  The A-10 is an incredibly well built, incredibly robust, and incredibly durable aircraft and can bring the pilot home safely after suffering severe damage.  It deserves the name "Thunderbolt II".

Jack that sucker up, ready up some aluminium sheet and a pop rivet gun, kick the tyres, install a new canopy, light the fires.

A-10 proof that "if it ain't broke, break it a little and just fix it!"

What's absolutely ludicrous is that a bunch of incompetent Air Force brass wanted to dump the A-10 in the late 1980s because it wasn't as glamorous as the F-16 which they thought could do the close air support job as well.  Total nonsense!  Here we are in 2020 and the A-10 is probably still the best aircraft for the job it does.  However, it could be improved if they welded a bayonet lug on it for use when it really gets down and dirty.

3 hours ago, HighBypass said:

Jack that sucker up, ready up some aluminium sheet and a pop rivet gun, kick the tyres, install a new canopy, light the fires.

This isn't actually that far from the truth, the A-10 is designed to be able to be repaired pretty easily, with makeshift fabrications in the field if necessary. The external skin for most sections is not actually load-bearing, being more to cover stuff up and streamline the thing, so if the underlying structure is reasonably intact, it's not inconceivable that this particular aeroplane could fly again in spite of severe panel damage.

The way the gear pods are designed follows that of aeroplanes such as early retractable-gear types such as the DC-3 and B-17, whereby the gear actually protrudes a little bit so that a wheels-up landing is not as damaging as it would be if the gear was fully retracted into the body. A bonus to that is if the wheel brakes are still operational, it can be steered a little bit even in a wheels-up landing, by means of differential braking.

Thus it is not too surprising that it handles well when damaged, since that too was a big part of the design effort on the thing as the chances are it will take hits in a battlefield environment, notably with the rear mounted engines which are shielded by the wing and fuselage from many aspects, also being widely-enough separated to ensure no one hit could take out both engines, yet close together enough to minimise asymmetric thrust should one engine fail.

Another interesting thing about the A-10 is that it was specifically designed to be easy to fly, the initial requirement actually being that it could be flown by a relatively low-hours PPL in terms of the actual skill level necessary to fly it, since you have your hands full at low level in a FAC or ground attack role, notwithstanding the combat knowledge of systems and tactics which are of course also part of the skills necessary to operate one. So in practice when it was introduced, it was typically handed to more experienced fighter pilots, in spite of the fact that many fighter pilots were initially not happy about being assigned to the role of fighting in slower aeroplanes down in the weeds, as this has typically been seen as being less glamourous than the pure fighter pilot role. These days however, its reputation is such that it has a kudos all its own.

I'll never forget a low flyover of an A-10 at a dog and pony show at Ft. Campbell. My wife and I literally did not hear it coming until it was overhead.

Another thing about the A-10, if you hear a BRRRRTTT coming from the plane, then you're not its intended cannon target. 

 

 

The A10 is the Nokia phone of military aircraft. Almost indestructible. An A10 was hit by a SAM during Desert Storm and lost half of the right wing, and made it back to base. Another lost all hydraulics from battle damage, and the pilot brought it home using mechanical reversion.

3 hours ago, Chock said:

This isn't actually that far from the truth, the A-10 is designed to be able to be repaired pretty easily, with makeshift fabrications in the field if necessary.

Indeed. This specific aircraft was quickly repaired and returned to service according to another source I read yesterday.

What I didn't read however is just what went so horribly wrong that the gun managed to shoot the canopy off! 

Seems to me he should have been awarded the Distinguished Landing Cross.

Edited November 15, 20205 yr by NormH3

That's what happens when your anti-gravity fails... 😝