ON 16 Nov 09, Wg Cdr Philip Thomas 20743-G F(P) and Sqn Ldr V Sharma 26708-SF(P) were authorised to fly a LSH sortie in a MiG-21 aircraft. After take off, onselecting undercarriage lever up, the landing gear failed to retract with associatedindication on T-6 panel going off. Immediately, the undercarriage lever wasselected down but still no indications of the undercarriage position were availablein the cockpit. Subsequently, trim, main and booster hydraulic warning lights werealso seen going off in the cockpit with angle of attack lights behaving erratically.An undercarriage check was carried out subsequently, in which the landing gearwas reported down. Flaps and airbrakes were found non operational. A precisionapproach was executed. On landing, the chute did not deploy and antiskid did notfunction as well. Despite all abnormalities the aircraft was safely decelerated.Wg Cdr Philip Thomas and Sqn Ldr V Sharma displayed a high degree ofprofessionalism and averted a potentially hazardous situation. |