Virgin Atlantic jet lands safely with landing gear problem

BBC ^ | 29 December 2014 | BBC

[moose07]

[moose07]

[rfreedom4u]

Would have mad sense to me if they had continued on to Las Vegas and made the landing there. It would have burned off fuel and got the passengers where they wanted to go.

[Crazieman]

Stop talking sense.

[MortMan]

Did they ever explain what the issue with the landing gear was?

[Rome2000]

Somebody must have noticed it had disappeared into the fuselage after takeoff.

[moose07]

Nothing as of yet.

“Eyewitnesses reported the jet was flying at relatively low altitude and the pilot appeared to be trying to “shake” the landing gear down.

Nick Hughes, who was on board, said the crew made several attempts to try to free the landing gear.

“They put the thrust on quite heavily and then dipped down, I think, to try and loosen the gears but obviously nothing kind of worked.

[grobdriver]

If the problem involved any part of the gear hanging out in the breeze they likely would not have even made it across the pond due to excess drag and increased fuel consumption.

If any part of the landing gear doors were involved they'd not be able to exceed safe gear extension speed either (else the airstream would rip off the doors).

They did the right thing.

[moose07]

No doubt Rules and Common sense diverged at this point.

[jttpwalsh]

Being a British carrier, I believe the decision to return was made due to location (maintenance and repair facilities).
Also, they probably wanted to avoid those pesky American lawyers. Thanks.

[Rusty0604]

Good to hear they are all safe.

[central_va]

landing gear is for sissies.

[moose07]

[central_va]

There are two kinds of pilots, one’s who have landed with their gear up, and one’s who are going to land with gear up.

[onyx]

B T T T ! ! ! ©

[central_va]

Center line perfect landing.

[dfwgator]

That’s what pilots are paid for. Not to fly the plane, but to know what to do when something goes wrong.

[Kirkwood]

If VA has no repair facility contracted in Vegas, it makes no sense to fly there. Also if the issue caused a fault in getting the gear fully up, then they can’t make the trip. I recall a flight from the US to the UK that was made with an engine out and they got a ton of bad publicity. I believe it was British Airways back in the 70s.

[moose07]

Hi Onyx.
The pictures are worth a look.
Those spare struts under the wing came in useful. :)

[SparkyBass]

No landing gear? I can do that in my sleep.
I land with only one wing.

:~0