Australian F-111 makes emergency belly landing

Posted on: Jul. 18th, 2006 || Source: smh.com.au | E-mail Article | Print Article

A Royal Australian Air Force jet bomber that crash-landed at its south-east Queensland base was being flown by a pilot who had graduated from flight school only a fortnight ago, the RAAF says.

Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd said the pilot was one of the most junior with the F-111s, having graduated from the basic conversion course two weeks previously.

He was doing an operational upgrade, and flying with one of the nation's most experienced F-111 navigators.

"The fact that he was able to bring the aircraft down in such a very good way, I think bears well the training that we do,'' he said.

The RAAF has also revealed the reason behind the incident was the loss of the plane's main left wheel shortly after take-off.

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