A-10 Emergency Landing with Gear Issue – Unusual Pilot & ATC Radio Chatter

A-10 Diverts for an Emergency Landing at Volkel After an In-Flight Problem

A routine A-10 training sortie became an emergency near the German-Dutch border when the crew reported a problem and diverted to Volkel. The aircraft landed safely, while the radio exchange with ATC became one of the memorable parts of the recording.

The A-10A was part of a four-aircraft training formation from Spangdahlem. The mishap aircraft used the callsign CAJUN04 and carried serial number 81-0978/SP. During the sortie, the crew encountered an in-flight problem and requested assistance.

Volkel was used as the recovery airfield. Controllers coordinated the emergency landing while the crew worked through the problem and positioned the aircraft for approach. The available record does not establish a catastrophic failure or an injury-producing event.

The aircraft completed the emergency landing successfully. What makes the recording unusual is the relaxed, sometimes humorous tone that appears alongside the practical work of an emergency recovery. The conversation is a useful reminder that professional cockpit and tower communications can remain conversational even while the situation is abnormal.

The aircraft was part of a four-ship training mission originating at Spangdahlem. The affected aircraft was identified as CAJUN04, serial 81-0978/SP, and the recorded ATC account reconstruction dates the emergency to the evening of 29 January 2004.

The incident took place while the formation was operating close to the German-Dutch border. The emergency therefore required coordination across an area in which the aircraft could reasonably divert to a suitable military recovery field.

The recording is unusual because the radio traffic retains an informal tone despite the emergency. That does not change the underlying sequence: an abnormal condition was reported, a recovery field was used, controllers coordinated the approach and the A-10 landed successfully.

The aircraft identity is independently corroborated by airframe records: 81-0978 was an A-10A built as construction number A10-673 and entered U.S. Air Force service in March 1983. Historical movement records also place 81-0978 with the 78th Tactical Fighter Squadron in Europe. These records corroborate the aircraft identity but do not establish additional details about the 2004 malfunction.

The available incident record does not identify the failed component with enough certainty to support a more specific mechanical diagnosis. It is therefore safer to describe the event as an in-flight problem followed by an emergency recovery, rather than naming a system failure that the surviving material does not conclusively establish.

What is unusually well preserved is the human side of the event: the pilot and controller continued communicating during the recovery, and the emergency landing was completed without a reported crash or injury. The radio exchange therefore provides the principal surviving account of how the situation was managed.

“CAJUN zero four, say intentions.”

Accident Facts

Sources

• Video source (ATC/audio reconstruction)
• Available incident summary identifying A-10A 81-0978/SP and 81st Fighter Squadron.
• Video/ATC recording