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American Morning

Air Force Plane Lands Safely On Back Wheels

Aired May 03, 2001 - 11:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You know, in war or in peace, our service men and women can find themselves in peril in various ways -- case in point: this story of danger in the air over California -- an emergency landing, one of the most remarkable ones, in fact, you'll probably ever see.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): You're looking at a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy. This is the biggest plane an American pilot will ever fly. But in this case, this plane is in trouble. The front landing gear would not come down.

Air Force officials diverted the plane to Edwards Air Force Base in California, where the space shuttle sometimes lands. Once the C-5 hit the ground, the real balancing act began. Amazingly, the pilot kept this enormous plane on just its back wheels for more than a minute before bringing down the nose.

We're talking about a plane that's as tall as a six-story building, as long as a football field and has a wing span equal to more than two 737 passenger jets. Large plumes of smoke were seen as the nose scraped along the ground. But there was no fire. All 17 people on board were safe.

The U.S. military uses C-5s to carry heavy combat equipment such as armored personnel carriers and tanks. One Air Force official called this a picture-perfect landing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And we have no word yet on exactly how much damage the front of that plane suffered after that landing. But, again, as we said, all 17 on board were safe and sound once the plane did stop.

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