An Israeli Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-15 landed on one wheel and the nose wheel. The pilots performed an emergency landing and were injured. The airplane was damaged.
Israel Air Force pilots on an F-15 Ra’am jet were forced to perform an emergency landing on a base in Israel’s South on Friday morning after one of the pilots noticed an issue with one of the wheels.
The two reserve pilots from the 69th “Hammers” squadron with years of flight experience were taking part in a routine training flight when they noticed that they were unable to lower one of the wheels ahead of landing.
According to a statement from the military, crew members noticed the wheel had not deployed correctly and carried out a number of procedures to try to fix the situation.
However, eventually, they were forced to land the plane on a base in the south of the country using only two of its three wheels.
The crew landed with only a left wheel and nose wheel. The crew were lightly injured and were treated on-site by medical staff.
It was the first time such a malfunction occurred in an F-15 – and it is still unclear what caused it.
The jet was damaged and was sent for a further maintenance inspection. The IAF is investigating the incident.
