Curious video shows a DHC-4 Caribou doing the “wheelbarrow” landing

Watch this unusual air display performed by a Royal Australian Air Force DHC-4 Caribou.

Taken in 1988, at RAAF Base Richmond, the following clip shows the RAAF De Havilland Canada DHC-4 solo display flown during the Australian Bicentennial Air Show.

What it makes this video interesting is the “wheelbarrow” done by the Australian pilot at 0:43.

As it can be seen in the footage, a skilled pilot is required to perform such a spectacular maneuver: in fact, the Caribou driver maintains a very low rate of descent in order to avoid a nose landing gear breakage caused by a harsh touchdown on the runway.

5 Comments

  1. Saw one take off from a grass parade ground in Australia in the early 1980’s. Ridiculously short amount of space to not only get airborne , but clear the surrounding buildings too!

  2. I made a couple jumps from Caribous back in the 1970s. They were powered by large radial engines back then. It was an easy plane to jump from, but the Jumpmaster had to lay on his stomach and peak around the tail ramp to do his job.

    I’ve never seen a plane do that nose wheel trick before. It was strangely impressive. On most planes, trying that would be quickly followed by a nose wheel collapse. The Canadians know how to build tough airplanes.

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