14 DAY TRIAL // Here is a piece of news that has high chances to make those who can't even throw their socks in their dirty laundry basket without missing their target a few times turn green with envy.
Thus, media reports say that, not long ago, a daredevil pilot managed to land a military aircraft on a vessel out at sea using an improvised and fairly big stool to help him.
The pilot in question is United States Marine Corps Captain William Mahoney, and the aircraft that he managed to land aboard the USS Bataan with the help of a stool is a Jump Jet, also known as a Harrier.
According to Unexplained Mysteries, it was earlier this month, on June 7, that William Mahoney took off from the USS Bataan. Shortly after leaving the assault ship's deck, he figured out that something wasn't quite right.
He returned to the vessel and got close enough to it to make it possible for folks aboard to check the underbelly of his aircraft. It was thus discovered that the $30 million (€21.57 million) AV8B Harrier's front landing gear was jammed.
“As I was climbing away from the deck I put my gear up and realized I had a malfunction. I flew by the ship, I did an approach, so they could see my landing gear and give me an idea of what was going on,” the pilot explains.
At this point, William Mahoney started worrying about how he would safely return the Jump Jet to the ship's deck. “How do I get the jet back on the deck safely?” the pilot remembers asking himself after being told that a regular landing was no longer an option.
Luckily, folks aboard the USS Bataan came up with a really innovative idea. Long story short, they pulled out one seriously oversized stool and had the United States Marine Corps Captain land the Harrier on it.
The epic emergency landing was caught on camera, and footage of the incident is available below. As explained in the video, the pilot did not even get to see the stool while performing the landing maneuvers. On the contrary, he only relied on electronic systems and observers on the assault ship.
Not long after the AV8B Harrier safely returned aboard the USS Bataan, the aircraft was inspected and the jammed landing gear fixed. Later on, William Mahoney finally got to take the Jump Jet out for a spin. As for the stool, it was stored on board, just in case it would ever come in handy again.
