I was an aeronautical engineer working for Boeing at Renton when this happened. This happened the day after Pan Am took delivery of its first 747 (N733PA on Friday, 12/12/69), and I was at Renton on the Saturday (12/13/69) when this incident happened. We knew they were going to fly four of the test-flight 747's to Renton to get them refitted for delivery to Pan Am and TWA and we went out to watch them bring in the first one. I was standing along the west side of the runway, camera in hand, when this happened. I was looking through the viewfinder and focusing when parts starting flying all around. I thought it was going to swerve towards me, and I was too close to get away. Ralph Cokely did a great job keeping it under control and on the runway. We did joke about how they were going to take the damage out of his salary and I imagine he felt he had to leave for Lockheed. I have heard all kinds of stories about what caused this incident. I think it was just being the first guy to try to get that big airplane onto that short runway, and being a little low. The north end of the runway at Renton pretty much ends where Lake Washington begins and there was a berm right there.

@mikeyriley8959

8 жыл бұрын

I thought Waddell was flying it?

@wn6904k

7 жыл бұрын

NO he was not...........

I was in the landing pattern behind this 747 flying a Cessna 182 with failed radio. Had called Renton Tower ahead of time by phone from the old Bellevue airport. At Mercer Island (north end?) as arranged I flashed landing lights and and got light gun clearance to proceed with no other traffic - except the 747. The view was incredible, I probably watched it unfold a few seconds longer than was appropriate, when I turned to look at the tower: I really expected it to run off the runway as it veered left. Red Red Red: Go away command. So I did. At the time I did not realize that there were probably only 3 flying 747 aircraft.

@mcdonnell220

9 жыл бұрын

Mike Lee Thanks Mike, great comment!

@IkKorp

8 жыл бұрын

cool

@jbrynolfsson

7 жыл бұрын

Wow!

@mikelee2233

7 жыл бұрын

Really? You were there? I was flying a company airplane: Cessna 182 N3111Q that day.

@jvcardesign

7 жыл бұрын

WOW thank you for sharing your story. Amazing.

That plane was operated by Ralph Cokely and my father John W. Harder. I remember the incident quite well as the plane flew over me on the south end of Mercer Island. It was amazing to see a plane of that size then, and as low as it was, we thought we could easily reach out and touch it.

@karimshebeika8010

5 жыл бұрын

@@TheCream14 wow this youtube comment section seems to be some kind of reunion, love it

In his memoir _747_, Joe Sutter provides several relevant details about this flight (pp. 194-197): * The ship involved was RA003. (Sutter does not mention that, after repairs, it went to Pan Am as N732PA "Clipper Ocean Telegraph.") * It was going to Renton to have test equipment removed and an airline interior installed. The Everett plant was too busy at the time to accommodate all the relevant work and some of it had been shifted to Renton. * The original pilot intended for this flight was out of town on another job that day and was replaced by Ralph Cokely. * Cokely was very nervous about landing the 747 at Renton. To ease his mind, one of Sutter's engineers did an impromptu presentation on the 747's landing performance to show that, in its test configuration, RA003 would have no problems with this landing. Cokely didn't seem to believe it. * Sutter flew along in the jump seat at the suggestion of one of his team, to watch the short-field landing. * During the landing, Sutter noticed that Cokely remained nervous and was obsessed with conserving as much runway as possible. * Afterwards, Cokely left Boeing for Lockheed, where he tested the L-1011. It is not said if he was fired or quit.

@coriscotupi

7 жыл бұрын

Great book, full of inside stories. I read it too.

@bboucharde

7 жыл бұрын

Joe Sutter = Great man & super engineer. I read his autobiography, too.

@janpolubinski3989

6 жыл бұрын

Nicholas Haggin Thank you for your comment. This is really good story. CHEERS. !

@ColdSmokes

6 жыл бұрын

Great write up. I read every word! Ty

@jochampley

5 жыл бұрын

This aircraft took me home from Vietnam in 1972. The name on her nose was Clipper Storm King. She may have been renamed Ocean Telegraph at some other time but when she was only 3 years old Storm King was her name. You can google the tail number for an image.

I got to work on this plane, and the other 4 flight test 747's They all flew into Renton to be totally stripped, reengineered , and rebuilt from the ground up prior to join their respective fleets again...This was the only one that had trouble getting into Renton, and as I recall within 24 hours it was out of public view...great project to be involved in

There is an incident report online which tells all👏👏👏 my father John Harder told me that “first time landing a 747 at Renton ( he said they were doing it to show short field capabilities) and short runway, we were trying to use every inch of usable runway and we sunk at the last minute” He was a RAF fighter pilot and then went on to fly everywhere and everything 17,000 hours at the time of this incident. I’m not sure why he was co-pilot as he had 0 time in it and 11 hours in simulator. I think they did a great job of keeping it down the middle! Miss those days and those pilots and those impressive birds!

I had the pleasure of doing a ferry flight with the great Jim Gannett. He very uncharacteristically started telling wonderful stories of his days flying A-26's in Korea, Boeing, rolling the -720 with Tex Johnson and other experiences. For once I had the sense to just keep quite and listen. He said he was originally supposed to do that flight, but was in LA on company business or something. He rushed to get back to Seattle as he knew the pilot was worried about doing the flight. When he arrived at Sea-Tac, he hurried to the nearest pay phone (pre-cell days) to call dispatch and let them know he was back and would do the the fight but was told they had just departed. He said he had told the pilot to just make a controlled approach and aim for the 1000 foot stripes as normal and don't try to land short. He commented that the plane was plenty light, and the physics were fine. The pilot didn't do that, and this is the result.

hard to believe the engines only needed sheet metal work.

@md-1186

5 жыл бұрын

Just google it and you will find that engines need millions of dollars for mainatanance after a failure(in most cases?)

That was more than a little sheet metal work

@tom5051666

6 жыл бұрын

Was thinking the same thing!

@ColdSmokes

6 жыл бұрын

Ha...never mind all the solid debris the engines processed. Sent it!

Incredible. I've never seen this footage or heard of this incident before.

Goes to show how tough these planes are. Put into service afterwards too....

Great video. I have seen pictures of Clipper Storm King but did not know that anyone had a movie camera. Joe Sutter talks about the incident in his book, 747. The captain was afraid to make the flight, as the runway was very short and he had to negotiate it in a strong crosswind. Although the captain was no longer employed at Boeing, he did go on to continue his career.

I was in our home on the south end of Mercer Island when I looked up and saw this 747 fly over. Holy smokes moment! I remember the headlines in the Seattle Times the next day - "The Big Bird Blew It". That was a difficult landing. Short field, coming off the water and having to clear a concrete embankment. Pilots did a great job. I've flown hundreds of times in/out of Renton.

@marksandstrom4248

5 жыл бұрын

the story as I heard it was that the pilot was using the radio altimeter to very carefully aim for the very beginning of the runway threshold, but neglected the elevation difference between the surface of Lake Washington and the surface of the runway

Great video - how do you get your hands on those gems? There was a somewhat similar incident in Brazil in the 80s with a VASP Airlines 737. The captain was known for doing power off approaches/landings all the way from cruise, obviously violating SOPs. In the CVR recording, a worried copilot repeatedly asks the captain to revert to a normal approach as they were getting low. Each time the captain answered, "Easy, kid. I'm the king of power-off". As it turned out, the king of power-off was fired after shearing off both main gear legs at the runway threshold concrete embankment.

I do not have time for all these amazing channels. Regardless, thank you! Fantastic footage here.

@mcdonnell220

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Joseph!

Amazing that this exists!

has enough time passed and enough other airlines had unfortunate incidents for the narrator to admit that this scenario can happen with "any other airline". The true pride seems to be with the narrator. Humility is a nobler trait. Thank you for showing the footage. It was educational. Remember that only the company itself is not defunct and not all the people have gone to their graves yet. Kudos to the pilot for maintaining control of the aircraft and keeping his passengers from bad injuries.

Wow....what an oldie!!! So good!

Evergreen International landed a 747 at KMMV - McMinnville around 2012. Talk about a skinny little runway. Actually there might have been more then 1. One of them is now a waterpark. Video is here on KZread somewhere of the landing. Min fuel, stripped down bird, enough gas to get back to PDX if it didn't work out if I recall.

Thank you for finding these great clips - Imagine if this happened to a test aircraft nowadays, the media would eat it up and spit it out - and that would probably be the finish of it!

My first landing was on that runway, mine kinda looked like that too :D Without this vid I would never have believed 747s ever landed there!

wow that had to be a fun ride bringing a new meaning to clipper anyways what a plane i love how he said except to the captains pride

This may give some perspective. I've got a private pilots license (light aircraft, single engine, such as Cessna etc). Also I've flown in fully certified commercial airline simulators. 737-300 is quite easy, and similar enough in handling to a Cessna. 747-400 is also quite easy in take-off and general handling. However landing it manually has no comparison at all to a Cessna. The instructor had to talk me through the landing and advise several corrections. (note that most commercial flights these days use autoland). The main difference is that the flight deck is so elevated, that you feel the aircraft is more than 50 feet above the ground when the main gear touches down. It's extremely deceptive. Now the modern 747-400 has a radio-altimiter, and when in landing configuration, an automated voice, that pilots nickname "Hank the Yank" because of the American accent. It automatically reads out distance to main-gear touchdown... something like... "100 feet" .... "50".. "30" .... "20".... "10"... Now I would hazard a guess that the 3rd 747 ever built didn't have automatic radio-altimiter. Which makes things a lot more difficult. The 747-100 had practically no computers, just a flight engineers panel with gauges and switches. If they did have a gauge based system installed (depending on the procedures at the time).. the flight engineer could possibly assist by watching the gauge and reading out the altitude. Whether or not they did this at the time, I don't know. And to further complicate matters, a rad alt system measures straight down, so with the rapid slope prior to the threshold of the runway, any read-out, if the flight engineer was doing it, would be something more like.... "100 feet"...."50" ... "10"... "zero" ... It seems the early days of aviation were the most interesting.. where we discovered how easily mistakes can happen, from the simultaneous combination of a number of different factors. The largest embankment prior to runway threshold I've seen so far in this country would be Queenstown, New Zealand domestic airport code ZQN, check it out if you're over this way.

That,s correct...It was flown by Ray Cokely,he was laid off after this incident and went to Lockheed.But there was one more detail...Joe Sutter was on this flight as well..

Sutter pointed out that the pilot was skeptical that the 747 could land on the short Renton runway, even after the engineers assured him that it was possible. He attempted to land so short that the landing gear caught the seawall at the end of the runway. Also he said that the pilot put the engines into reverse, even as they were scraping on the ground, probably not a good idea. That is why the engines are surging.

@outwiththem

7 жыл бұрын

And that was a test pilot? So many pilot errors. Relative of executives i bet.

Still fixated with the 747 all these years

Good work guys.

Professional pilot, ladies and gentlemen

Engines "just needed some sheet metal work." What! They dragged along the ground, sucking in debris, experienced surges.

amazing bit of control

Was this In Renton Washington

That's amazing. Minor repairs???

Emergency response protocol has improved a bit since then. Over a guy on a scooter.

What a pearl!

The Queen of the Skies. Takes more than a concrete barrier to stop her majesty.

well done jimmy:p

Queen of the Skies

Looked like a helluva crosswind.....

muy buen video

That can be buffed out, and with a little duct tape, it will be airworthy in no time

good job

Hi gents... How long was the runway there??? Regards from France.

@wn6904k

7 жыл бұрын

1 mile long. The pilot just landed short of the runway

@avoidingtrees6692

7 жыл бұрын

wn6904k 1 mile ?????? That's just 5000 feet long ?!!!! Not very long for a 747 , even empty. Thanks for the answer......cheers from France

@coriscotupi

7 жыл бұрын

*+AVOIDING TREES* It was only a very short hop from Boeing Field to Renton, only a 7km distance. The airplane was very, very light, with little fuel and no interior - the purpose of the flight was to install the interior at Renton, for airline delivery.

@mikeymikey4335

6 жыл бұрын

LOL

Lesson learned - don't land short...!

Well well that's cool and Joe Sutter was onboard this aircraft! And I fly the legendary and most majestic aircraft ever in the world - the one and only Queen of the Sky - the Boeing 747-400 as a captain! Thank you Joe for your gorgeous and wonderful aircraft and I love you so very much! 🙋💖✈️😍👍 I terribly miss you but I never ever forget you and you are always in my heart 👍😍✈️💖🙋

"If it's not Boeing, I'm not going."

@LG-kl3co

6 жыл бұрын

Yes well they do have more "events" than any other manufacturer. Whilst I accept they fly more hours also, that will be of little consolation when the plane comes down !

@tottui15

6 жыл бұрын

Lol

@dog-in7fh

6 жыл бұрын

agreed!

@annabellethompson6234

5 жыл бұрын

Im watching this during my flight to Canada

@flemingcourt

5 жыл бұрын

Maybe less.

Captains pride and pay cheque.

Suppose that concrete is removed (by the airplane)

The "Finest generation" built things well, not just as cheaply as possible like the 737 Max.

No, I did not witness the accident. I saw my first 747 in 1976 or 77. And since then, it was the only plane I wanted to fly. I wish they could continue making them. Can't imagine the skies without it.

Why were they landing this big bird at Renton? Pretty short runway there, boys! C'mon, Boeing Field is twice the length and only a mile away!

Boeing ROCKS!!!

"some sheet metal work" yeah.... im sure.

I am having trouble with this one. WTF is a concrete embankment doing ON a runway? Clearly, from this video, the plane touches down on the runway. What are we missing???

@coriscotupi

7 жыл бұрын

Dicionaries do quote an embankment as being _"a raised bank to carry a road, railway, or canal across a low-lying or wet area"_. In this case, a runway need to be raised. It's not uncommon that runway thresholds are a little higher (sometimes just a couple of feet, sometimes dozens of feet) higher than surrounding terrain, often ending up with a raised threshold relative to surrounding terrain. It was on this raised threshold face that the airplane hit its landing gear.

@scooter39045

6 жыл бұрын

Not all the runway is designated for landing. The runway that is available for landing is near the runway number and proceeds to the opposite runway number. Before the runway number is the portion that can be used for takeoff and before that area the runway can have lights, equipment and other stuff. Also the runway can be made of different materials. If it’s not the landing portion then it can be made of less quality materials. If you search for “runway markings”it should explain all this.

@seikibrian8641

6 жыл бұрын

flemingcourt "Clearly, from this video, the plane touches down on the runway. What are we missing???" If you mean "What am I missing?" you're missing that he came down 20 feet short of the runway, and one of the wheels impacted the "lip" of the embankment below runway level; 30 inches below, to be precise. He was probably used to flying 707s and 727s, and forgot that his viewpoint in the 747 was two stories above the ground. Although HE was well above ground level, the WHEELS were below ground level.

@seikibrian8641

6 жыл бұрын

flemingcourt "WTF is a concrete embankment doing ON a runway" Actually, the end of the runway was on the embankment. If you look at the top end of the runway in this photo you'll see that it sits right off Lake Washington, and the embankment keeps the runway from eroding into the water. www.reidmiddleton.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Project-HeroImage01-RentonAP1.jpg

Why they even attempted to land that huge plane on the super short Renton Airport runway is beyond me.

@coriscotupi

7 жыл бұрын

It was flown to Renton to do the interior job for airline delivery.

@chuckgarrity7230

6 жыл бұрын

I assume the plane was empty with maybe 10,000-15,000 lbs of fuel. No sweat landing on a 5,000 ft runway as long as your touch down on the approach end. No sweat taking off either. A light 747 feels like a ROCKET SHIP. I know as I've flown the 747 when it was nearly empty. HOLD ON...

Bah! Anyone can hit a seawall with a 747 but how many could hit an out house with a QANTAS de Havilland DH.61 Giant Moth. eh? That's skill.

Looks like my landing at Narita.

B,747 The best commertial plane of last 50 years

@Bartonovich52

7 жыл бұрын

No. The 737 is. The 747 was plagued with problems (the early JT9Ds especially) and didn't fit with high fuel prices and deregulation of the 70s. Airbus showed the way to the future with the A300, after which Boeing never again clean-sheeted any design other than a twin--including the 767 to compete against the A300.

@Josehernandez-ug7ep

7 жыл бұрын

A plane can be considered the best in many ways I flew both It is my personal point of view

@erwinschmidt7265

7 жыл бұрын

Jose hernandez - The Lockheed L-1011 Tristar much better!! I was on Delta Tristar Dec 1978 that ran out of gas way N. of Atlanta in violent thunderstorm. Captain ID'd us as a Delta Glider Flight, extended RAT, landed, kiddie cornered cutoff, braked down taxiway & apron, parked at American ramp. No problem, saved our lives!!

@outwiththem

7 жыл бұрын

No kidding Erwin. Any links about that feat?

@erwinschmidt7265

7 жыл бұрын

outwiththem - Didn't even make the papers! Plenty of crashes to report on I guess, including the one in Detroit who had slid sideways on ice & crushed gear. We missed tail by about 20 ft. NTSB and media busy w/DC8 that had just crashed in Portland too. Our flight was from West Palm Beach to Tampa to Atlanta to Atlanta via Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia which included about 4 hrs of circling as well. As our Captain said, now we know how far a Tristar can go on a full tank! The ice storm had forced thousands of liners to look for a place to land, so when we glided out of the thunderstorm there were liners circling stacked up about 10 high, but they let us land first. Jumbo had never been landed dead stick even in testing so emergency crew beacons were up & down taxiway knowing we were gonna crash, but not where. Captain was pissed and yelled at controller to clear taxiway as we were using that too, yielding a Keystone Kops moment. No reverse thrust obvious, so Delta lost a set of tires which were on fire so American Ground Crews put out with their potable water as emergency crews out of position. Captain said hotels full and not even a place to lie down in terminal, so he would stay on plane as PIC and we could stay the night. In olden days, outstanding pilots were not Sullified, and even if you could reuse the plane you were fired, which after shutting off our electricity, was the first thing Delta had on it's mind sending a VP and FAA Official to do just that! Only problem they had was cockpit crews of every liner that had landed stopped by to congratulate our crew on great airmanship and thanking them for not closing airport as only had one active runway due to construction. They were pushing by the VP & FAA Official at the doorway even while VP threatened pilot, and then fired him. A very senior American Pilot said "No problem Captain, you can fly for American every day of the week and twice on Sunday....just mention my name". Our Captain asked VP "I had good night's rest, got spiffed up, got taxi to airport, put on best Captain's face pre-flighting this magnificent bird, flew from West Palm to Tampa to Atlanta to Detroit to Chicago to Cleveland to Philadelphia, ran outta gas well north of town but accomplished 1st deadstick landing of a jumbo, and just had to suffer getting fired by you, so I just wanna know one thing. Just what have you done for Delta today??". The VP looked like a dog in NYC that just had his owner scoop up his product, so when he turned around to admire it, it was gone!! FAA Official said "Captain is right you know....FAA Regs specify until Pilot in Command leaves, your plane belongs to him, fired or not". The dynamic duo conferred, and VP explained a Plan B. He said to Captain "Can we agree you will be re-hired, you, crew and passengers can stay until 9AM tomorrow, your electric will be turned back on, the American stewardess crew may return, complete meal service for dinner and breakfast will be delivered, all on condition your cockpit crew reports to tower at nine o'clock AM?" Captain said "No can do.....everything is satisfactory except we're out of liquor". The VP said "And a complete re-stock of your liquor cabinet". All agreed, so Captain was re-hired and enjoyed the company of every cockpit crew as they stopped in. American staff treated us like royalty throughout, and Delta got their precious airplane back at 9AM next morning. Got to Detroit about 24 hrs later driving a lady & her daughter the last leg from Cincinnati in a rental car thru a driving rain. At least the three of us had arrived!! Sorry you couldn't read about this somewhere. I think Delta didn't want it mentioned they ran outta gas, ATL didn't want it mentioned they couldn't even position emergency crews to put out fires, FAA didn't want to admit they hadn't required manufacturers to provide check lists for deadstick operation or landing of jumbos, and nobody wanted it mentioned they were landing liners much closer together that the minimums! I'm not even going to fly Delta again.......until Sunday, and that will be on one of their old MD-90s that truly does fly like a bird!!! They love to fly and it shows.....usually!!!!

Any landing you can walk away from - is a good landing. He just touched down a shade low and kissed that concrete embankment. Still - other than the landing gear - damage was minor. Otherwise he could have stopped - even on that short runway.

@janpolubinski3989

6 жыл бұрын

Century25 .Thats right.Your comment is very good. Yes ,it was bad landing. !!!.

great plane ... end of.

tough old birds the 100 series

Стойки сломались или что?

Slight oopsie. It's a 747. Gonna take more than that to write off an American icon.

That impact would of damaged the turbine blades. These jet are made to take impact damage like this only to fly again. It'll be too risky Peace ✌️ out people 🌍

I've lived in Renton my whole life and I have never seen a 747 at Boeing field in Renton. (That is where they make 737's today and back in those days they made the 707/727/737 there. That is a very very short runway for a 747. I didn't think it was possible to land a 747 at that short of a runway but I guess they tried it for the last time on that day.

@blampa

8 жыл бұрын

Hey Tim, they land 747's there all the time. Lookup Owns Germany on KZread and you'll see. Also, the 747-8 landed after its first flight at Renton.

@timmiser

8 жыл бұрын

+blampa hey Blanca, sorry I tried your search and didn't find anything. There is nothing at the Renton airport or no reason for 747s to go there anymore. It is either for small private planes or 737's nowadays my friend.

@speedbird1598

7 жыл бұрын

Blampa, you're mistaken. 747s never land at Renton, in fact, 737s often never land there (It is possible and regularly done though). THe airport you are seeing is the Seattle Boeing field KBFI

@timmiser

7 жыл бұрын

Actually that is Boeing Renton field. That is Mercer Island, the hill in the background and you can see the lake in the foreground. Not sure why they landed there back then but they definitely don't do it anymore.

@blampa

7 жыл бұрын

+Tim Miser Hi Tim, I did a little research and the 747-8i's first flight took off from Paine field in Everett and definitely landed at Boeing Field in Renton. www.airlinereporter.com/2011/03/boeings-first-boeing-747-8-intercontinental-lands-at-boeing-field-pictures-and-video/

What possible reason would a 747 have for landing at Renton when Boeing Field is just a few more miles to the north? Lost pilot?

@piperpilot26

6 жыл бұрын

Testing short field landing I believe.

If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going!

Obviously not a Navy pilot... :-)

So why did the pilot mess up so bad?

gravity check....yup still there

wholy sheet medal

Unlike the Boeing 737 Max! The 747 was back when American made stuff were top quality! Much has changed since then!

and they bondo the plane and put into civilian service

пиплз, вот хепид зыс плэйн?

And THAT is what i call "pilot error"

Jack Daniels fucked up that 747.

@Sovereign_Citizen_LEO

8 жыл бұрын

+Skybolter - Jim Beam.... LOL

@ramairgto72

7 жыл бұрын

He hit an Old Crow.

@erikk77

6 жыл бұрын

No, it was "Captain" Morgan.

Gees why are people s cynical, there would have been a lot of people there because it was a Boeing field. Private flying was much more affordable,and if the the then new 747 was making a rare landing it would have attracted a lot of people.So not only do a believe most of theses stories, but I would love to chat with the people involved. Aviation tends to attract stories because it would have been special to see. I remember sitting listening to pilots stories when I learnt how to fly because similar things often happened to me, except here (Australia) I am not allowed if I was still flying to follow a 747 sized aircraft into most major airports, however Qantas had a maintenance base (now closed) near Melborne, now closed that 744's and 767's routinely flew into. I no longer fly unfortunately.

He left Boeing because of the embarrassment his lack of pilot skills caused, but the rest is true