Anybody ever land, or take off in a cave?

[Dav8or]

OK, we've all seen it in the movies. The evil bad organization has a secret landing strip concealed inside a mountain, the door opens up and the plane either flies out of the cave, or it lands into it. My question is, has anyone ever done this in real life? Has there ever been an airstrip inside a cave?

 

[StinkBug]

Would be a tough go-around.

 

[JustinD]

I hope someone has done it and with video proof, I'd love to see that (done safely of course)

 

[James_Dean]

 

[Fearless Tower]

OK, we've all seen it in the movies. The evil bad organization has a secret landing strip concealed inside a mountain, the door opens up and the plane either flies out of the cave, or it lands into it. My question is, has anyone ever done this in real life? Has there ever been an airstrip inside a cave?

Don't know above caves, but the Japanese had airfields underneath camouflaged nets in WWII.

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Would be a tough go-around.

Now that right there is damn funny

 

[Pilawt]

I remember that image from way-back-when.

"In the early years at Moultrie, B.D. [Maule] lifted off inside the present-day hangar and flew out the door to show off his aircraft's short takeoff capability. One of those takeoffs had a scary moment when he got too high to get out the door."​

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2012/July/1/The-golden-Maule

 

[asicer]

OK, we've all seen it in the movies. The evil bad organization has a secret landing strip concealed inside a mountain, the door opens up and the plane either flies out of the cave, or it lands into it. My question is, has anyone ever done this in real life? Has there ever been an airstrip inside a cave?

Let me guess... You recently saw Kingsman: The Secret Service?

 

[ja_user]

Hell, I'd do it inverted in a Pitts, with a tailwind, and without a medical..

 

[Gucci Pilot]

Let me guess... You recently saw Kingsman: The Secret Service?

I'm willing to bet he saw it on HBO GO too

 

[vfrfellow]

The evil bad organization has a secret landing strip concealed inside a mountain...

http://www.nknews.org/2015/02/imagery-reveals-changes-at-wonsan-area-airfields/

 

[Phoenix]

Yeah I do it all the time with that secret helicopter I stole from the government in the 1980's. You might have seen me on TV.

 

[ETres]

I've taken off in CAVU.

 

[Skip Miller]

Hell, I'd do it inverted in a Pitts, with a tailwind, and without a medical..

Henning? Is that you?

 

[JHW]

every time I've ridden in a mooney I've felt like I was looking out the mouth of a cave

 

[James Darren]

I work in the film industry & we often fly helicopters below bridges - even below the Brooklyn Bridge pre 2001.

There's been a couple instances where helicopters have flown through warehouse buildings.

Personally I don't know of any fixed wing take off & landings though...

 

[mscard88]

A guy that owned a flight school/FBO I knew was a Captain and an Air Force IP at Moody AFB Ga when this happened, early/mid 60s maybe. Moody used Spence (where this occurred) as an auxillary base for the trainers (T37&T38) and he was in their observation tower when a Maule employee came out and told them to watch the hangar entrance.

 

[Challenged]

Someone posted a video a while back of an airplane flying through a hangar, which was pretty sweet.

 

[Graueradler]

TV Shows. There was a Sky King episode with a cub or similar landing into a cave with a huge fan in the cave creating a headwind.

 

[mscard88]

I'm sure James Bond has done it!

 

[Pilawt]

Frank Tallman flew a Beech D18S through the double-open-ended hangar at KSTS for the movie It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

 

[Maciej]

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

Oh....

 

[oldShar]

Anytime I think of "cave", I picture this opening ==>
18" high, 30" wide, 6' deep with a 100' drop-off beyond.
Don't think even just the engine would fit ....

 

[Bob Noel]

Hell, I'd do it inverted in a Pitts, with a tailwind, and without a medical..

but with a flightplan, right?

 

[Dav8or]

I work in the film industry & we often fly helicopters below bridges - even below the Brooklyn Bridge pre 2001.

There's been a couple instances where helicopters have flown through warehouse buildings.

Personally I don't know of any fixed wing take off & landings though...

If anybody had actually done it, I would have thought the Hollywood stunt fliers would have. I guess all the stuff I've seen in the movies has always been strictly models, CGI and mat paintings I guess.

 

[Dav8or]

Let me guess... You recently saw Kingsman: The Secret Service?

I did see that movie. Watched it at home and only kind of half assed. Funny, I can't remember a cave airstrip in that movie. I guess I missed it.

 

[Dav8or]

http://www.nknews.org/2015/02/imagery-reveals-changes-at-wonsan-area-airfields/

That one N. Korean airfield looks to be the closest as the article says the runway is partly inside a hill. Sure would like to see pictures of that place.

 

[Shepherd]

OK, we've all seen it in the movies. The evil bad organization has a secret landing strip concealed inside a mountain, the door opens up and the plane either flies out of the cave, or it lands into it. My question is, has anyone ever done this in real life? Has there ever been an airstrip inside a cave?

It was a TV series called Jet Jackson and Captain Midnight (same cast, same concept)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esbdGWy2bTA

 

[rachelk.tailwinds]

Just a thought but would that add... oh I don't know... some type of ceiling effect?

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

What about in "Air America"?
Mel Gibson lands that plane in the back of a C-130.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

I bet that was from a treadmill.....

 

[Dav8or]

It was a TV series called Jet Jackson and Captain Midnight (same cast, same concept)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esbdGWy2bTA

Yep, the concept has been told in so much fiction over the decades, that it got me to wondering if it had actually been done. I'm not sure it ever has.

 

[Dav8or]

Just a thought but would that add... oh I don't know... some type of ceiling effect?

That's great question! Would it diminish the effects of ground effect by sort of neutralizing it? I don't know.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Is a slot in rocks a 'cave'?

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

 

[Norman]

Just a thought but would that add... oh I don't know... some type of ceiling effect?

Definitely a heavy overcast.

 

[JHW]

That one N. Korean airfield looks to be the closest as the article says the runway is partly inside a hill. Sure would like to see pictures of that place.

there seems to be a lot of open space right across the river

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

yup....

 

[jordane93]

I've done it many times.