Hagen Brothers farms,Goodrich ND | Anyone / everyone remember that old movie starring James Stewart ? I have seen that movie maybe 20 times in the last 50 years.
The story is of an aircraft pilot / designer / engineer, flying a new model for his company (1950's).
He feels the piston engine passenger aircraft he is flying has a fatal flaw that will cause the tail section to break off in flight.
He calls his boss from a distant airport and begs him to ground the aircraft, his boss refuses, telling him to fly it or they will get someone who will.
In desperation, he climbs back into the aircraft and pulls the landing gear retract lever. The landing gear retracts and the plane crashes belly down on the airstrip. bending about everything.
That belly flop scene has always made me wonder, can you really retract the landing gear and belly flop a plane that easily, or is that just "movie magic"?
Will the landing gear retract while supporting the weight of the aircraft ? Are there some sort of safety interlocks to prevent such a thing ? Seems like it would be too easy to cause a disaster otherwise .
Any aircraft pilots / mechanics out there that can answer this question ?
I seem to remember at the local military air shows that some of the smaller aircraft have some sort of lock pins with a brightly colored tag attached, plugged into various parts of the plane when parked.
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No highway in the sky.
