Tom Morgenfeld
Tom Morgenfeld earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1965 and went on to complete a master’s in the same field at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1973. He served as a fighter pilot in Vietnam, flying 90 combat missions and making over 500 carrier landings. Later, he became a test pilot, carrying out highly classified flights in Soviet MiG aircraft. Morgenfeld eventually joined Lockheed, where he contributed to the development of the F-117.
F-117 emergency landing: a hairier situation
In his book Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51, Peter W. Merlin recounts a more dangerous incident that occurred on January 27, 1982. During an avionics test flight in Ship 782—the third YF-117A full-scale development test aircraft (FSD-3 #79-782)—the nosewheel detached as soon as the plane lifted off from Area 51 and bounced down the runway toward the lakebed. Ground personnel quickly warned the pilot, leading to a discussion about the safest way to handle the situation.
Continuing with the test flight
“When it became apparent what had happened,” Morgenfeld recalled, “the control room set about developing a recommended plan of action.” Engineers worried that if he tried to land without the nosewheel, the exposed nose gear strut might catch on a seam in the concrete runway and collapse. Landing on the dry lakebed was considered just as risky. Demonstrating calm professionalism, Morgenfeld handled the problem confidently, leaving the landing gear extended and continuing the mission as scheduled.
“Because I had a full tank of gas and no real pressing emergency, I just continued to fly my test cards,” he explained. Since the main objective of the flight was to assess upgrades to the cockpit displays, it did not matter whether the landing gear was retracted or left down.
Advised to eject from the F-117
After some time, the test conductor instructed Morgenfeld to head to a specific location and eject from the aircraft. “They were worried the airplane might somersault on landing,” he said, “but, having been a [Navy F-8] Crusader pilot in the fleet, I had seen several nose gear incidents and wasn’t at all worried.” He further noted, “The F-117A drag chute gave a bit of nose-up pitching moment, which would also mitigate some of the imagined problem.”
F-117 emergency landing
He told the test conductor that he would keep flying to burn off fuel before attempting to land. “The end result was visually rather spectacular, but otherwise pretty benign,” he recalled. After roughly an hour in the air, emergency crews had covered the concrete runway with fire-retardant foam, and Morgenfeld brought the aircraft down safely, sparks streaming from the nose gear strut and a white drag chute billowing behind to slow it, as shown in the photo with this post.
Even without nosewheel steering, the jet stayed neatly on the runway centerline, and the only damage sustained was to the nose gear strut.
Ordered to report immediately to Ben Rich’s office after the F-117 emergency landing
According to Dick Klein, news of Morgenfeld’s incident reached Burbank even before some of the leaders at Det 3 were informed. As a result, an “isolation switch” was added in the control tower so that all external communications from the base could be cut off if an accident occurred.
When Morgenfeld arrived back in Burbank two days later, he was told to report straight to Ben Rich’s office. There, he found both Rich and Kelly Johnson glaring at him, and any expectation of praise or a certificate of appreciation disappeared immediately.
An elaborate joke
Rich said, “I heard you had a little problem this week.” Morgenfeld replied sheepishly, “Yeah, but it turned out OK.” Johnson simply shook his head, and at that moment, the pilot felt his stomach knotting as he asked, “Is there a problem?” Johnson replied, “There sure is; we’ve got this to deal with,” and handed Morgenfeld a union grievance form citing him for grinding a nose strut without proper training and for removing 2 inches from the strut without the required documentation or engineering approval.
Rich and Johnson fought hard to maintain a serious expression as sweat began to form on the pilot’s forehead. At last, when the two legendary aeronautical engineers couldn’t hold back their laughter any longer, Morgenfeld understood—much to his great relief—that the whole situation had been an elaborate prank.
Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51 is published by Schiffer Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by Lockheed
