On July 20, Capt. Brett DeVries of the Michigan Air National Guard was forced to land his A-10 Warthog with the landing gear up and no canopy after the aircraft's gun malfunctioned, wreaking havoc on systems across the entire plane. The belly landing took place at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center in northern Michigan. DeVries, an A-10 pilot with the 107th Fighter Squadron stationed at Selfridge Air National Guard Base just north of Detroit, was able to safely exit the aircraft after the emergency landing, and no injuries resulted from the incident.
DeVries and fellow airmen from the 107th, known as the "Red Devils," were on a training flight to drop dummy bombs and conduct strafe runs at Grayling Air Gunnery Range. Four A-10s dropped their dummy ordnance during the routine training flight and then circled around to make a strafing pass. On his strafing run, DeVries' A-10 Thunderbolt II, affectionately called the Warthog for its rugged appearance, suffered a major malfunction after the aircraft's 30mm GAU-8 Avenger Gatling-style autocannon blew out, creating a "donut of gas," as reported by DeVries' wingman Major Shannon Vickers. The malfunction caused the canopy of DeVries' A-10 to blow while flying about 325 knots (374 mph), slamming his head back into the cockpit seat.
"It was like someone sucker punched me," DeVries recalls in a recent report of the incident. "I was just dazed for a moment."
After quickly gathering his senses, DeVries instinctively pulled his aircraft up from only about 150 feet altitude to 2,000 feet to distance himself from the ground. The seasoned A-10 pilot, who has flown 119 combat missions overseas and hundreds of training runs up to the Grayling range, lowered his seat and leaned forward to duck under the front window of the cockpit, avoiding the worst of the wind.
His wingman, Vickers, saw DeVries leave the formation after his gun malfunctioned, but did not immediately see that the canopy had blown. Vickers flew up to support DeVries by inspecting his aircraft for damage and assisting with radio communication to technicians on the ground. DeVries' aircraft was in bad shape, with paneling missing from the underside around the gun and his two primary radios cut out, forcing DeVries to rely on a third-option radio system. To add to the chaos, DeVries' maps and checklists were blown all over the place with no canopy to block the wind.
"There was paper everywhere. And I was afraid to open up my emergency checklist, because I knew that would just blow away and maybe get sucked into an engine," DeVries recalled.
DeVries feared the blown canopy and faulty gun could have damaged the ejection system as well. If he pulled the ejection levers, the system could fail—or, even worse, work only partially, with disastrous effects if DeVries were not cleanly ejected from the aircraft.
After conferring with his wingman Vickers—a Warthog pilot of 10 years as well as a former weapons specialist who worked on A-10s—DeVries opted to fly his crippled aircraft to the Alpena airfield, only a few minutes away by air, and attempt an emergency landing. Within minutes, the Alpena radio tower had contacted Selfridge ANGB, about 250 miles to the south, and several A-10 maintenance specialists there gathered around a speakerphone. The mechanics provided recommendations that were relayed by the Alpena tower to Vickers, and then on to DeVries who had lost his primary and first backup radios.
The primary concern was whether or not DeVries should attempt to lower his landing gear. If it deployed properly, the landing gear would make the touchdown at Alpena much easier and safer. However, if only part of the gear lowered, a landing attempt would be significantly more dangerous than bringing the ship in with the landing gear up for a belly flop landing.
"I just thought, 'There is no way this is happening right now.' It all was sort of surreal, but at the same time, we were 100 percent focused on the task ahead of us," Vickers said.
Vickers flew under DeVries to within about an arm's length. DeVries attempted to lower the landing gear, but as they feared, the nose gear did not come down due to damage from the gun. Vickers quickly shouted into the radio, "Gear up!" and fortunately the rear landing gear returned to the up position.
The two Red Devils approached the runway at Alpena. DeVries prepared to land his Hog with the landing gear up, although on the A-10, the primary landing gear wheels are exposed even in the up position, as the designers of the aircraft accounted for the fact that the heavy attack plane would inevitably need to make some landings after taking damage. "As he made final approach, I felt confident he was making the right decision," Vickers said. "We had talked through every possibility and now he was going to land it."
DeVries pulled off a textbook emergency landing. "I flew him down, calling out his altitude," Vickers said. "He came in flat, I mean it was a very smooth landing."
As Vickers pulled away, he saw DeVries exit the aircraft and dash to a nearby firetruck. Vickers was then instructed to fly back to Selfridge, only 35 minutes to the south, but the pilot said the flight felt like hours.
Thanks to DeVries' skilled landing, not only did the he walk away from the incident unscathed, but the damaged A-10 will likely be repaired and returned to service as well.
"Capt. DeVries skills as a pilot were put to the test in this incident," said Brig. Gen. John D. Slocum, a veteran fighter pilot who now commands the 127th Wing . "He demonstrated not only superior skill as a pilot but remained calm in an extremely challenging situation. To walk away from this scenario with no injuries is a true testament to his abilities as a world-class fighter pilot."
DeVries received an email from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein congratulating him on the landing. As for DeVries, he credits his training. The landing was conducted entirely on instinct.
"In that moment, your training kicks in. The training—that's what saves you and your wingman," he said. "Sometimes, perhaps we think, 'Why do we have to do this training again and again?' Well, in this case, the training took over and it is what made the difference."
Source: U.S. Air National Guard
Jay Bennett is the associate editor of PopularMechanics.com. He has also written for Smithsonian, Popular Science and Outside Magazine.
