An A-10 pilot was uninjured when a Warthog made an emergency belly landing April 7 at Moody Air Force Base, Ga.
The A-10 from the 75th Fighter Squadron was flying a routine training mission when the pilot declared an in-flight emergency. The pilot returned to base and the aircraft’s landing gear retracted, but did not extend, forcing it to land and skid to a stop on Moody’s primary runway, according to a base release.
The pilot was evaluated by flight surgeons after the incident and released. A photograph of the incident shows the A-10, tail No. 81-0995, parked on the runway next to emergency vehicles.
An Air Force board will investigate the incident.
It wasn’t the first time a Moody A-10 has made this type of landing. In March 2008, another A-10 with the squadron made a similar belly landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. More recently, another A-10 with the Michigan Air National Guard’s 107th Fighter Squadron made a similar landing in 2017 at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated on April 9 at 10:03 a.m. EDT to correct the language used to describe the landing gear malfunction.