If there's any other maintenance guys with experience on the A320 I would like to know if the Captain could not have selected up then down to see if the centering mechanism would have kicked the nose wheel straight.
Aircraft have either electro-mechanical, mechanical or hydraulic or boosted centering mechanisms
Or was there a lock of some sort that prevented a retract from being selected???
Not to detract from the excellent landing the pilot did!!
Wrench monkey wrote:As far as I was able to determine, right or wrong I am not totally sure yet, but wasn't the gear down and locked? They got no up and locked indication but why should the gear collapse because the wheels were turned 90 degrees?
Perhaps from the rearward force exerted on the bottom most part of the nose strut due to the tires being turned at 90 degrees? Just how much force is being exerted against that nose strut you might ask? Enough to shred the tires in a matter of seconds and cause that huge shower of sparks, fire, and smoke you witnessed on tv.
There is nothing they could have done to center that thing.
...and I said it was a maintenance failure for a couple reasons... The aircraft experienced the same faults (as displayed on ECAM -perhaps only momentarily? did they swing the gear?) the day before, but the snag was signed off - How? .... and the boys at their MOC told them "we're convinced it's an indication error... we don't believe your nose wheels are not straight. It's a faulty sensor.".... which makes me wonder what sort of geniuses might work for their maintenance control when they think "indication error" even when both sides of a dual system are giving them the same fault!?
...and now I'm wondering if they'd complied with the AD issued for correction of that very problem?
What I was hoping for when the reporters were congratulating the work of the crew and on the coverage I saw, they talked about the great job pilots do everyday to move people safely. It was said that even tho most of commercial flying is on autopilot there are still times on take off and landing where the training and skills come into play. I was hoping they would mention the financial situation many pilots are in with that many lives on the line
No Conflict wrote:WELL DONE!! Hopefully the media doesn't start bashing them like they did the Transat pilot a while ago...dug into his past from 15 years ago and smeared him even though he saved so many lives...
if you're talking about the azores incident, the final, official portugese report stated that the pilots, by misdiagnosing the fuel leak and not following the proper checklists, put the passengers in jeopardy. the piche may have demonstrated excellent flying ability but had he followed proper procedure he wouldn't have been in the situation in the first place.
Its always ammusing to me to see and hear how much the general public, TV Hosts news anchors and their producers don't know about aviation in gerneral.
CNN at least had an ATR pilot answering questions of a reporter.
By the way... did everyone hear the stupid questions spouting from the mouth of Larry King????
He must be one of the stupidest TV personalities out there.
Try and find a clip of his questions and commintary....its awful.
As for the Flight Crew....
They didn't screw up a thing. Took their time (with the 5.5hrs of fuel they had o/b), consulted with the Ops Center and Mtce. people, consulted manuals, briefed CRM tecniques...etc.
Made a GOOD plan...then executed it.
They are professionals.... and acted accordingly.
I'm pretty sure the captain did go to long beach initially, and did a tower fly-bye to visually confirm the gear was indeed fux0red, and then proceeded to LAX. Can anyone confirm for sure?
