Posted on 07/28/2017 10:57:44 AM PDT by Red Badger
Yes but did they leave the landing gear up?
Air France Flight 447
...
Exactly. The captain who was the only one who knew how to fly was on his rest break, and failed to take control once he did return to the flight deck.
I have trouble believing there weren’t half a dozen alarms blaring once they reached a threshold speed, altitude, course position, etc.. Most pilots start retracting the gear as soon as they reach the outer marker, if not before.
Normally, the landing gear will be retracted as soon as the aircraft is safely airborne and climbing.
Also, the Landing Gear handle is on the right side of the main instrument panel and very easy to see. I can actually see the crew missing the gear if something catches their attention at that moment on takeoff. What I can’t understand, is how their crosscheck was so poor that neither of them noticed it the entire flight.
What is the role of the Landing Gear Control and Interface Units (LGCIUs)?
The two LGCIUs are responsible for:
1. controlling the ext and ret of the landing gear
2. controlling the sequencing of the gear doors
3. supplying info about the landing gear to the SD
and fwd instrument panel
4. provides warn info to the FWCs when a gear malf. occurs
5. tells aircraft systems if the aircraft is in flt or on the grnd; those systems can then apply their ground vs. inflight logic
Only one LGCIU is active at a time; the other serves as a standby. The active and standby LGCIUs swap roles after gear retraction or in the event of LGCIU failure.
Reminds me of an ‘incident’ that happened where I used to work.
The company had as one of it’s missions rebuilding aircraft engines, especially military aircraft like the C130.
They had just gotten the contract from the Air Force to rebuild a number of AC engines, and the first one to arrive was scheduled in a few days.
They wanted to impress the USAF brass and show how quickly and proficiently their crew could perform.
The day arrived and two USAF aircraft landed, one to be rebuilt and the other to take the 1st one’s flight crew back to their base.
The crews were then invited to a sumptuous lunch banquet in their honor as the first delivery crew.
They took about an hour and were ready to depart.
While they were eating, the company’s crew was to disassemble and remove the engines from the aircraft and have them essentially torn apart in the hangar preparatory to being rebuilt.
This was to show that we were very fast and could turnaround the aircraft in a very short amount of time.
They just got one thing wrong.
They removed the engines from the WRONG AIRCRAFT..........................
Being a fighter pilot where our gear doors stay open until the gear retracts. . .I guess I wasn’t paying attention to heavies.
Just a reminder, there are two types of aircraft, fighters and targets. Hah.
Each set of triangles represents the positioning of the landing gear as determined by each LGCIU.
- the forward set represents the positioning of the gear determined by the active LGCIU
- the rear set represents the positioning of the gear determined by the standby LGCIU
- one set of green triangles on the WHEEL page - three green triangles on the landing gear indicator panel
- the memo section presents a landing checklist below 2000'; the "LDG GEAR DN" portion of the checklist will not turn green until all gear is down and locked
The UNLK lights illuminate red when the gear is not locked in the selected position.
Finally: After takeoff check list: Gear up, etc etc
Actually, most pilots start retracing the gear when they are airborne with a positive rate of climb.
The outer marker is on approach, not landing (unless things have changed).
Even if it doesn’t, they should have known something was wrong if they could only fly at 1/2 speed. Sometimes the computers don’t know everything.
*************
Everything on an Airbus is computer managed... that speed was probably the max “gear down” speed. Women Drivers.
Any amateur pilot that was taught to GUMP before landing will never leave the gear up. Gas, Undercarraige, Mixture, Prop.
That’s not going to last long.
Haha! I knew that was coming as soon as I read, "While they were eating..."
BTW...one of my favorite aircraft is the C-130 Hercules. Second only to the Fairchild-Republic A-10.
If I could afford it, I'd make a Herc my personal private airplane.
Enjoy it while it lasts.....................
They probably needed to delete their cookies and reboot.
What did the pilots do about the alarm system on the Airbus 320—exceeding allowed speed for deployed gear. Likely nose heavy and turbulence noise heard in the cabin. Lights indicating locked gear?
Some have speculated that they may have been wearing earbuds..................
Even as a passenger I believe I would know that the landing gear hadn’t been retracted. Cripes!
Yes, I was wondering that. I don’t know if the landing gear is visible to passengers on an A320, but if it is, I would have thought someone would have asked a flight attendant why it was still down after takeoff.....................
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