Australian F-111 belly landing

Has happened a couple of times, but unusual since F-III main gear came down from gravity after unlocking and locking hydraulically. Even if the primary system failed, there was an emergency extension system that took a while to get a green, gear down indication. Not too much damage done since the barrier/cable takes most of the energy. Have used the departure end barrier (normally around 1500' from the end of the runway) on a no-flap, no-slat landing and deceleration is actually pretty gentle with a heavy fighter. F-111 dry weight is around 50 Klb. They undoubtedly had to replace the cable brakes after this landing.

The F-111 hook weighs a ton, so sticks to the runway pretty well. No way to retract it in the cockpit, so no carrier landings for production models.

 

By 2006, Australia was thinking about retiring their F-111s. We did that in 1996. Their ex-USAF F-111Gs (converted FB-111s) were retired around 2007. No need to spend the money on that particular F-111 since they actually buried the ones not sent to museums or put on a stick in 2010.

No, had forgotten what started that cable landing since the video is so old. F-111 main landing gear wheels and tires are huge, since two of them took maximum weights approaching 100,000 lbs (max taxi weight was 92,500 lbs IIRC). Fasteners were pretty robust and unlikely to break.