Close call Our company owned a 400A Beechcraft Jet and the Pilatus turbo Prop but we also leased a jet from a pool which saved a lot of money for maintenance and pilot salaries and so forth..You had to give them some notices but our trips were always scheduled ahead so it was not a problem..Anyway this trip was on the lease jet. We had a joint meeting in Jacksonville, FL with our sister company and it required all of the departmental V.P.s plus the CEO and Executive V.P. Well we flew out early that morning and stayed all day had our meeting. The flight up there was uneventful and so was the flight back until we were about to land at Raytheon which was a small airport that joins the property of Tampa International. We were on final approach with the gear down and suddenly the pilot ripped the throttle wide open and started an aggressive climb. Well I was low seniority out of the group so I was sitting in the jump seat which parallels the fuselage and is directly behind the cockpit so I could see what the pilots were doing....So everyone got on point because of the sudden climb. Now this plane seats nine people so your in close proximity to one another but with the engines screaming you could not hear very well....The CEO and the Exec. V.P. were sitting together in the back so I am reading the Exec.s lips when he says whats wrong....Now I just sitting here I dont have anything to do with what the pilots are doing ....right....So I say I dont know...but I take a look in the cockpit and the pilot is talking to the tower while the copilot literally has a book out rapidly thumbing through the pages...So I am getting real interested real quick when I hear the pilot repeat the towers instructions to do a fly by at the tower so they can do a visual check on the landing gear...The nose gear did not light up!!! So I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I turn to the Exec. and say its the landing gear ...he says oh shtt.. the CEO cant hear it thunder so he says what did he say and the Exec. says its the landing gear....CEO says oh shtt..so the Exec. says what they going to do...I say theyre going to do a fly by at the tower to see if the nose gear is down....The CEO says to the Exec. what did he say and the Exec. had a sense of humor like mine. He says to the CEO theyre putting us on a back runway so if we make a mess it wont shut the airport down...lol....The CEO says whattt! Exec. says no theyre flying by the tower to see if the nose gear is down... Now this jet lands at about 125 knots so if that nose gear is not down or collapses its probably all over but the crying so they do the fly by the tower says nose gear is down but now the question is it locked...So I look again into the cockpit and the copilot is taking bulbs and fuses out of the dash where its says landing gear. He quickly switches bulbs and fuses and the nose gear lights up...wew...So we make approach again but we are still nervous until the nose gear touched down and we knew it was locked... Thank goodness we are taxiing to the hangar when the Exec. says hey Ralph dont let the pilots know we were scared....I said well I wont say anything but this Odor in my pants is going to be a dead give away... hope you enjoyed Rjr Like · · Share Ralph Fetzer Write a comment...
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 05:01:15 +0000
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