Wouldn't it have been just as effective to fly towards their destination? But looking at their route map, there aren't any airports they have scheduled flights to between Denver and Buffalo near the great circle between LAX and JFK.
Posted on 09/21/2005 8:41:46 PM PDT by traumer
Wouldn't it have been just as effective to fly towards their destination? But looking at their route map, there aren't any airports they have scheduled flights to between Denver and Buffalo near the great circle between LAX and JFK.
"Am I to assume the gear is rotated 90 degrees when it's retracted in order to save space?"
Nope, no reason to. Plenty of room in the wheel well. It's a conventional retraction configuration.
Typically, the pilot can steer the nosewheel with his rudder pedals while on the ground, but the slewing angle is limited to about plus and minus fifteen degrees.
"2. If so, is this accomplished using the same yoke that steers the plane in flight?"
For steering angles greater than about fifteen degrees, modern jet airplanes are equipped with a "tiller," which can steer the nosewheel up to an angle of about plus and minus 72 degrees. The yoke does not provide nosewheel steering input.
"3. If so, how does the pilot transfer between these two functions?"
While the plane is rolling out on the runway, it iis transitioning from aerodynamic (rudder) yawing to nosewheel steering. Large steering inputs are not desireable until the plane is in taxiing mode.
It looks to me like some ground crewman did not do a good job of re-attaching the steering links on the nosewheel after the pushback by the ground tractor. Without those links attached, the nosewheel is free to turn any way it wants to. The links may have come undone on the takeoff roll.
If that's not the usual practice then I think we've identified the problem. :-)
Could his be why Europe always seems to pull to the left?
El Salvador?!? You gotta be FReepin' kiddin' me!
Saw it on the tube last night. That pilot was cool as the other side of the pillow. Now I know what they mean by "Discount Air Carriers"
I don't think I could watch!
An incredible piece of airmanship, without any doubt.
There are several ways to increase fuel burn during a flight. Cruise at a lower than optimal altitude, fly faster than optimal cruise speed, fly at slow speeds with flaps extended and gear down to tremendously increase drag, etc.
That is funny! ROFL
If this has happened before, why haven't they inspected the entire flight by now! The FAA would have required an inspection and threaten grounding of the fleet if it were Boeing.
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