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
LOS ANGELES – A JetBlue airliner with faulty landing gear touched down safely Wednesday evening at Los Angeles International Airport after circling the region for three hours with its front wheels turned sideways and unable to retract into the plane.
As passengers inside the plane watched the drama unfold on television sets in the cabin, the pilot landed using the back wheels first and then easing onto the front tires. The front wheels smoked, popped and sparked as the plane rolled to a stop on an auxiliary runway set apart from the main terminals. No one was hurt.
"We all cheered, I was bawling, I cried so much, said Christine Lund, 25, who was traveling with her cat.
Zachary Mascoon said it was "surreal" to watch the emergency unfold on a television inside the plane. At one point, he said, he tried to call his family, but his cell phone call wouldn't go through.
"I wanted to call my dad to tell him I'm alive so far," the 27-year-old musician said.
Mascoon praised the flight crew's professionalism, adding that the emergency was handled with calm.
Emergency crews from across the area, which had massed near the runway, helped the 140 passengers and six crew members. Within minutes, the plane's door was opened and passengers with their carry-on luggage walked down a stairway onto the tarmac.
Some passengers shook hands with emergency workers, talked on their cell phones and waved to cameras. One firefighter carrying a boy across the tarmac put his helmet on the child's head. Family members called the airport, asking where they can meet up with passengers.
No injuries were immediately reported, authorities said.
"It was a very, very smooth landing. The pilot did an outstanding job," fire Battalion Chief Lou Roupoli said moments after the plane touched down. "There was a big hallelujah and a lot of clapping on that aircraft. ... If you're going to land in a bad situation, this is where you want to be."
JetBlue flight 292 left Bob Hope Airport in Burbank at 3:17 p.m. for New York's JFK airport, said JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin.
The Airbus A320 first circled the Long Beach Airport, about 30 miles south of Burbank, and then was cleared to land at Los Angeles International Airport. It stayed in flight to burn off fuel before landing, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker.
As the plane landed in Los Angeles, spectators gathered on buildings and stood on parked cars to see first-hand an ordeal that was broadcast on local and national television that showed the nose wheel turned perpendicular.
The runway where the plane landed will be closed indefinitely, but there will be no flight delays or cancellations, said LAX spokeswoman Nancy Castles.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched an investigation, Walker said.
JetBlue, based in Forest Hills, N.Y., is a five-year-old low-fare airline with 286 flights a day and destinations in 13 states and the Caribbean. It operates a fleet of 81 A320s.
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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