Mechanic Fixes Plane’s Landing Gear From A Moving Car

A Day To Remember

Landings are already notoriously hard to pull off – add a broken landing gear into the mix and you have a disaster just waiting to happen.

Fortunately, this Piper pilot had a good set of friends looking out for him when that time came. 

The year was 1985 and Scott Gordon was flying his single-engine Piper PA-28 Turbo Arrow aircraft when one of his landing gears failed to open.

On the ground, fellow air show veteran pilot Jim Moser, had a wild idea. His idea? To get a flatbed truck and drive it down the runway while Gordon landed on it. 

However, the truck couldn’t get to the speed needed for Gordon to land. Instead, they went with a crazier idea – what if Moser got into his Audi, drove down the runway at more than 90 mph, and then let mechanic Joe Lippo fix the landing gear out of the car’s sunroof?

Seems dangerous, right? Don’t worry, mechanic Rhett Radford was also in the car holding on to Lippo while doing his repairs! 

Somehow, the 6-foot, 4-inch Lippo managed to pull the landing gear free, allowing Gordon to land safely.

“When the pilot climbed out of the plane, he shook the mechanic’s hand. Then he took him to a local tavern for a drink – or two, or three or …”