Plane Crashes and Incidents

[Possibility of Being]

And, it's gone.

As reported on the approach: "touch and go". So it's gone. Or not.

But that's a weird story. First they announced a "touch and go" approach, then requested "high key - low key" landing, approved, which could indicate either a training maneuver or an emergency situation, but in the latter case why intending "touch and go" and no mention of any problem? Then, when reporting low key to the Tower, they also said "gear down" and "low approach"; cleared for low approach. Two minutes later, when taking the last turn toward the runway, they repeated: "gear down, touch and go"; cleared. Some 30 secs later, they performed a text-book belly landing, perfectly aligned, no fire at stop and the crew walked out unscratched.

Very confusing, at least to me with my limited knowledge and understanding, but with this disclaimer my guess would be a training approach with touch-and-go final only the gear down was not successfully executed and no one noticed it.

On the technical side, it looks like the incident might have affected mostly the payload pallets placed under the relatively thin Martin B-57 fuselage:

pallet 1

Images from WB-57 Payload Diagram PDF, 2021; might have been modified since, but the overall idea has been kept.
So it seems possible that the runway concrete suffered a bigger damage than the aircraft itself, time will tell.

That particular aircraft #927 made a series of test flights in 2021 in preparation for the Summer 2022 deployment (including NASA's Artemis I mission) and was supposed to assist it again in this coming February in the Artemis II mission. The other two WB-57s (926 and 928) seem to be mostly out of service undergoing numerous maintenance procedures and inspections according to available data.

As for its weather related assignment, The ClimateViewer Report does a good job (2024) with many links, if anyone is interested.

 

[Vulcan59]

The High Key position is generally when the aircraft is somewhere over the first third of the runway and is the point at which the pilot will begin his right/left turn and start his descent (if currently level). If it's an actual flame out, then the aircraft may be in a descent prior to reaching High Key but should be attempting to be at or near the altitude that was practiced during a simulated flame out (when training).

The Low Key position is generally abeam the approach end of the runway.

These "Key" positions serve as altitude and configuration reference points in order to ensure that the aircraft will be at the proper position, speed, and altitude over the end of the runway.

"Touch and go" terminology is used during training. On landing, the flap and thrust are set for an immediate takeoff without stopping or exiting the runway.

Touch-and-go essentially joins two manoeuvres into one - the aircraft lands on the runway, then accelerates and takes off again. The procedure is normally practiced during flight training but is sometimes used as a form of aborted landing after touchdown.

There have been several accidents over the years during 'touch and go' landings. During training, several 'touch and go' landings are carried out. In some aircraft, in order to silence the 'to low gear' warning, pilots gave disable this warning and then forgot to enable it, resulting in a 'gear-up' or belly landing! I know of one such accident in my airforce days on an E2C aircraft shown below!