Fighter Jet Lands On a Stool After Front Landing Gear Fails

An AV-8 Harrier, a fighter/bomber jet that can take off and land vertically, was taking off from the USS Bataan when there was a malfunction with the front landing gear.

The pilot, U.S. Marine Corps Capt. William Mahoney, turned the plane around and got ready to land again. But how does he land without the nose gear? He rests the nose of the plane on a stool.

The stool, a special piece of gear for this type of emergency, was not visible to Capt. Mahoney. All he had to go on was  the landing lights on the carrier and radio communication. In the video he nails the landing as if he had done it a hundred times. In fact it looks so routine if you didn't know there was a problem, you probably wouldn't notice.