United crew probes cause of nose-up jet

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/16/5 | Suzanne Herel

[SmithL]

San Bruno -- It was an odd sight at San Francisco International Airport this morning: A 747 sitting on its tail with its nose in the air.

The pilot of the previously Tokyo-bound United Airlines jet had returned to SFO Monday afternoon because of a hydraulic problem.

Some of the hydraulic gear collapsed and the plane went nose-up at about 1 a.m. while maintenance crews were working on repairs, said SFO spokesman Mike McCarron.

The hydraulic system is responsible for braking and lifting and lowering the landing gear. The pilot noticed a problem with the hydraulic system Monday about two hours into the flight, which departed at 2:30 p.m., just as the plane was over the coast west of Seattle, McCarron said.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/2275256/

[Prophet in the wilderness]

http://home.earthlink.net/~adotnet/ua_tail.jpg

[atomicpossum]

Michael Moore using the rear bathroom?

[martin_fierro]

poing.

[T.Smith]

[Aeronaut]

Hmmmm, A 747 taildragger?

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Thank you for the picture.
I tried to put a link here from Airliners.net

[T.Smith]

No problem!

[Grut]

I can't imagine what hydraulic problem would do this: maybe the crew left a fuel pump on and fuel got transfered to an aft tank when maintenance powered up the plane?

[MindBender26]

Somebody unpinned and depressurized the rear bogies of the aft main gear.

In other words, somebody just cost United about $50K.

[SmithL]

Somebody unpinned and depressurized the rear bogies of the aft main gear.

Is this something that someone might do accidently?

[Dead Dog]

The "Queen of the Skies" simply wanted to be a REAL airplane for once.

[IonImplantGuru]

I know the article says it's a UAL 747, but I think they're wrong - check the tail logo in the photos - its different than the UAL 747 in front of it. Don't recognize the pattern - maybe ANA? ANA used to do route-sharing with UAL.
Now I'm curious; have to do some 747 livery sleuthing.

[IonImplantGuru]

OK, it was a UAL aircraft - I guess United is changing coloring, and this was the very first 747-400 in the new color scheme.
Thanks to Prophet for the link to airliners.net; I got the straight skinny from the thread on this incident at that link.

[MindBender26]

>Is this something that someone might do accidentally?

Absolutely.

"Never underestimate the power, force and consequences of pure, unadulterated stupidity."

[Prophet in the wilderness]

The plane next to the UAL 747 looks like a Boeing 777 ( I think ) in the old UAL colors and livery.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

As you go to Airliners.net, just be aware that there are alot of liberals and America bashers there, as some here on FR already know.
The plane next to the UAL 747 looks like a Boeing 777 ( I think ) in the old colors and livery.
Here is another good aviation web sight, and they have good videos of planes.
http://www.flightlevel350.com/

[baltodog]

"United crew probes cause of nose-up jet."

I can tell what happened right away.

The back end was heavier than the front.