Airplane Story

[oldman]

I haven’t published a story in awhile and so I was just sitting around here in beautiful Florida, this one popped into my head. I know a few of you enjoy a good airplane story now and then, so I don’t print them too often or too close together, so you won’t get bored. I hope you enjoy this one.

We had departed from LAX flying non stop to JFK in New York, which is about a 5-5 1/2 hours flight depending on weather conditions. We were flying a B-757 with about 250 or so souls onboard. The first officer was going to be handling the stick (he had control of the aircraft) and I would be taking charge of the communications and making any changes that the first officer called for like changing the autopilot, flaps, slats, etc.

As I remember it, the flight was routine and pretty much ordinary. About 90-100 miles from the airport, we began our decent into JFK, still no issues. When we got to about six miles out, the first officer ordered the landing gear to be lowered. When we do that, we look for three green lights to come on, which tells us the three gears are down and locked.

I lowered the gears, but only two lights came on. The nose wheel did not lock. It did lower, but didn’t lock, so we raised the gear and tried again, but got the same result. We train for this to happen, so I took charge of the plane (this is SOP) and we contacted ATC, told them we had a problem and needed to go around. They asked if we were declaring an emergency and I told the first officer to tell them ‘not yet.’ We also notified the passengers of our problem.

We tried to raise and lower the gear and still no nose gear, so we decided to ask for permission to land and to have fire trucks standing by, but this is not an emergency. We were above minimums at about 600 feet and told the first officer to give it one more try. ‘Oulah!” Luck was on our side as the first officer stated, “3 down and locked.” We had a good landing and taxied to the gate still 5 minutes early. Later, we learned the actuator was stuck in and not functioning.

Not exciting to some, unless you were a passenger on the plane, then it doesn’t become an ordinary flight.

 

[RadishRose]

I haven’t published a story in awhile and so I was just sitting around here in beautiful Florida, this one popped into my head. I know a few of you enjoy a good airplane story now and then, so I don’t print them too often or too close together, so you won’t get bored. I hope you enjoy this one.

We had departed from LAX flying non stop to JFK in New York, which is about a 5-5 1/2 hours flight depending on weather conditions. We were flying a B-757 with about 250 or so souls onboard. The first officer was going to be handling the stick (he had control of the aircraft) and I would be taking charge of the communications and making any changes that the first officer called for like changing the autopilot, flaps, slats, etc.

As I remember it, the flight was routine and pretty much ordinary. About 90-100 miles from the airport, we began our decent into JFK, still no issues. When we got to about six miles out, the first officer ordered the landing gear to be lowered. When we do that, we look for three green lights to come on, which tells us the three gears are down and locked.

I lowered the gears, but only two lights came on. The nose wheel did not lock. It did lower, but didn’t lock, so we raised the gear and tried again, but got the same result. We train for this to happen, so I took charge of the plane (this is SOP) and we contacted ATC, told them we had a problem and needed to go around. They asked if we were declaring an emergency and I told the first officer to tell them ‘not yet.’ We also notified the passengers of our problem.

We tried to raise and lower the gear and still no nose gear, so we decided to ask for permission to land and to have fire trucks standing by, but this is not an emergency. We were above minimums at about 600 feet and told the first officer to give it one more try. ‘Oulah!” Luck was on our side as the first officer stated, “3 down and locked.” We had a good landing and taxied to the gate still 5 minutes early. Later, we learned the actuator was stuck in and not functioning.

Not exciting to some, unless you were a passenger on the plane, then it doesn’t become an ordinary flight.

My heart is pounding!

 

[Alligatorob]

Airplane Story

Great story! Thanks.

What does a stuck actuator mean? What would have happened had it not corrected itself?

 

[oldman]

Great story! Thanks.

What does a stuck actuator mean? What would have happened had it not corrected itself?

Great question. When we drop the handle to lower the landing gear, which is located on the dashboard, this sends a signal to an electronic actuator, which in turn sends a signal to the gears to be lowered. There are other actuators on airplanes. Interested? Read more about aviation actuators here: https://www.creativemotioncontrol.c...es that,applications in the aviation industry.

If we don’t have the nose gear down on the runway, we have to try to keep the nose of the plane up as long as we can while slowing the plane to a stop, but the nose gear should be down before the plane comes to a stop. It’s more of an issue if one of the bogeys, (or left or right gears), do not come down. If the nose gear is not down and we set the plane down the outer skin will have damage. This is a bad thing.

I have seen a few pilots land with their nose wheel down, but not locked. It takes a lot of skill to keep the plane under control until it comes to a stop.

 

[oldman]

Just heard that Southwest Airlines will be replacing their overhead bins with larger ones due to the manufacturers increasing their size. Also, SWA will be making their Wi Fi free. They are testing their newest equipment (modems) connecting to the satellites on various flights now. If all goes well, all flights will be given free Wi Fi, even over water.

 

[Lawrence]

That is why I do not fly anymore, but I think the story would be more fun if it said there was manual hydraulic pumps in the pilot cockpit and the pilots had to manually pump the landing gear down. Why don't they put skids on airplanes like helicopters have? I was a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam war and that is why I don't fly any more. Three hard landings are one to many.

 

[oldman]

That is why I do not fly anymore, but I think the story would be more fun if it said there was manual hydraulic pumps in the pilot cockpit and the pilots had to manually pump the landing gear down. Why don't they put skids on airplanes like helicopters have? I was a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam war and that is why I don't fly any more. Three hard landings are one to many.

On some aircraft, there is a door in the floor inside the cockpit where a pilot can slip down inside and hand crank the landing gear down. It takes a real manly man to do that. Those gears don’t go down easy. Why they never wired them to a motor or a hydraulic valve, I don’t know. It takes some time to do that before they are down and locked. The problem is that the pilots can never be certain that the nose wheel is turned as it should be while touching down.

BTW, I took my turn on a MEDEVAC as a door gunner. One day was good for me. There was a joke while I was over there that the average lifespan of a door gunner was 5 minutes. I was more or less assigned to a Force Recon Team, but we never did any amphibious landings, like they showed in the movies.

 

[Lawrence]

The tail rotor drive shaft went out three times and there was a high freak that caused the pilots feet to fall asleep, so they took turns managing the tail rotor. Hitting a runway at full speed and having sparks flying out from the skids is quite an experience the chopper pitches up on the skids and falls back. In Vietnam the highest casualty rate was with the infantry and the second highest was the aviators. I remember hearing the five-minute life span also. I never touched the type of helicopter that I crewed in Vietnam after I left, a UH1H helicopter. After I got out of the military, I swore I would never fly in an aircraft again because I feel my good luck has run out surviving aviation crashes and mechanical problems. I feel the next time I will crash and burn. All these years have gone by and there has never been a need to fly on an aircraft and that is good.

 

[Alligatorob]

Just heard that Southwest Airlines will be replacing their overhead bins with larger ones due to the manufacturers increasing their size. Also, SWA will be making their Wi Fi free

That is good news, better if the other airlines follow SWA's lead.

Overhead space is limited and wifi fees irritating.

You spend hundreds or thousands on a ticket and then they nickel a dime you on wifi, and a lot of other things...

Glad I don't fly much anymore.

 

[oldman]

The tail rotor drive shaft went out three times and there was a high freak that caused the pilots feet to fall asleep, so they took turns managing the tail rotor. Hitting a runway at full speed and having sparks flying out from the skids is quite an experience the chopper pitches up on the skids and falls back. In Vietnam the highest casualty rate was with the infantry and the second highest was the aviators. I remember hearing the five-minute life span also. I never touched the type of helicopter that I crewed in Vietnam after I left, a UH1H helicopter. After I got out of the military, I swore I would never fly in an aircraft again because I feel my good luck has run out surviving aviation crashes and mechanical problems. I feel the next time I will crash and burn. All these years have gone by and there has never been a need to fly on an aircraft and that is good.

The UH1H was probably the most or one of the most popular helicopters used in Vietnam. They were very easily reconstructed to do many different jobs from troop carrier to med evac. I think I am speaking of the right helicopter.

Besides the Amazon plane that went down in Texas in 2019, the last major U.S. air crash carrying passengers was in 2009 in Buffalo. The NTSB ruled that the crash was due to pilot error due to fatigue and lack of training. The plane was a turboprop.

 

[JonSR77]

On some aircraft, there is a door in the floor inside the cockpit where a pilot can slip down inside and hand crank the landing gear down. It takes a real manly man to do that. Those gears don’t go down easy. Why they never wired them to a motor or a hydraulic valve, I don’t know. It takes some time to do that before they are down and locked. The problem is that the pilots can never be certain that the nose wheel is turned as it should be while touching down.

BTW, I took my turn on a MEDEVAC as a door gunner. One day was good for me. There was a joke while I was over there that the average lifespan of a door gunner was 5 minutes. I was more or less assigned to a Force Recon Team, but we never did any amphibious landings, like they showed in the movies.

Thank you for your service.

 

[Been There]

oldman.....If the nose wheel doesn't come down, I'm sure you did check the QRH, but if that doesn't help, do like we do in the military and let the plane float down the runway until it all but stops and then slowly let the plane settle down onto the runway. I have been in a similar situation where only one side of the wheels dropped. You start thinking your about to lose a $70 million dollar plane. I only had this happen one time while attempting to land on a carrier. You have to really slow the plane down and get as low as you can and pray to God that your tailhook grabs an arresting cable. Good thing the Roosevelt has 4 arresting cables, so I had a pretty good chance of grabbing one. I also raised all the wheels just to have better balance for the landing. Biggest fear was if we were going too fast, we might flip over.

 

[oldman]

oldman.....If the nose wheel doesn't come down, I'm sure you did check the QRH, but if that doesn't help, do like we do in the military and let the plane float down the runway until it all but stops and then slowly let the plane settle down onto the runway. I have been in a similar situation where only one side of the wheels dropped. You start thinking your about to lose a $70 million dollar plane. I only had this happen one time while attempting to land on a carrier. You have to really slow the plane down and get as low as you can and pray to God that your tailhook grabs an arresting cable. Good thing the Roosevelt has 4 arresting cables, so I had a pretty good chance of grabbing one. I also raised all the wheels just to have better balance for the landing. Biggest fear was if we were going too fast, we might flip over.

Are you saying that you landed on a carrier with no wheels down and did a belly landing? How much damage did that cause to the plane? What plane were you flying?

 

[Been There]

I came in very slow and low, so damage was minimal. The arresting cable was still able to grab the tail hook. F/A18. When landing on a carrier, it’s not the same as a landing strip. With no wheels down, you want to try to land as level as possible to prevent flipping or going off center.

 

[oldman]

I came in very slow and low, so damage was minimal. The arresting cable was still able to grab the tail hook. F/A18. When landing on a carrier, it’s not the same as a landing strip. With no wheels down, you want to try to land as level as possible to prevent flipping or going off center.

Oh, you flew military. I didn’t. I learned to fly by going to flight school. Can you tell me a little about your career? If you would rather talk to me one on one, you can start a private conversation.

 

[Been There]

Oh, you flew military. I didn’t. I learned to fly by going to flight school. Can you tell me a little about your career? If you would rather talk to me one on one, you can start a private conversation.

I can't go into any stories, but we flew as an Air Wing support group with the NATO forces for my last mission before moving to the Pentagon. We did fly missions in the mid-east. We were stationed on three different carriers, the Roosevelt being the last one. I really have nothing good to say about flying under NATO's command.
You have a great holiday.