Airline in distress on CNN

[Natasha]

as of 8:30 EDT commercial jet is circling over major US city with the
front landing gear in the SIDEWAYS position fully extended.

Talk about a PROBLEM!!!

[John Doe]

"Natasha" > wrote in message
...
> as of 8:30 EDT commercial jet is circling over major US city with the
> front landing gear in the SIDEWAYS position fully extended.
>
> Talk about a PROBLEM!!!

I wouldn't expect a huge fireball. I think it'll skid to a stop and we'll
get to see a bunch of scared folks slide down the slides and everyone will
be safe.

Great shots from the news crews.

[John Doe]

Give that pilot a raise.


"Natasha" > wrote in message
...
> as of 8:30 EDT commercial jet is circling over major US city with the
> front landing gear in the SIDEWAYS position fully extended.
>
> Talk about a PROBLEM!!!
>
>
>

[JohnH]

John Doe wrote:
> Give that pilot a raise.
>

Spectacular job. He almost caused more problems for himself landing so
perfectly on the centerline - did anyone notice the flames shooting as it
scraped the painted lines?

[Kev]

JohnH wrote:
> Spectacular job. He almost caused more problems for himself landing so
> perfectly on the centerline - did anyone notice the flames shooting as it
> scraped the painted lines?

Darned if you aren't right. Watching the re-runs, the flame jumps each
time he passed over a centerline stripe. Something to avoid the next
time!

Kev

[Zulu]

I think its outstanding that they decided not to evacuate on the slides
after the landing. There seems to be this mindset that no matter what
happens, we're all jumping out even if it hurts more people than it helps.
If the communciations are good and the ground crews can inform the flight
crew that there's no fire or other hazard, there's no reason for it.

I've gone down the slide once before years ago when there was an engine fire
indication in the cockpit about 30 minutes after takeoff. We in the plane
could all see there was no indication of a fire, the crew said over the PA
there's probably not a fire. The slide was the scariest part, and a few
people got hurt, but thankfully not seriously. If it happens again to my
flight someday and we have to jump out, I'm taking my notebook computer with
me no matter what the flight attendants say.

[buttman]

....or a retract.

[Ray]

> Spectacular job. He almost caused more problems for himself landing so
> perfectly on the centerline - did anyone notice the flames shooting as it
> scraped the painted lines?

Wow. After watching for this on the replay it's really clear that the
centerline paint contributed greatly to the flame. The first visible
sparks occur right as the nose comes over a painted line and then after
that the flames come and go with the lines. It's quite possible that if
the nosewheel was not scraping over the lines there would not have been
any visible flames. I think this is most likely because the reflective
glass elements embedded inside the paint make it act just like sandpaper
- the dried paint itself should not be flamable. I wonder what, if any,
change in airport painting procedures will come about because of this.

- Ray

[john smith]

This is not the first time the AirBus A-320 has had to make an emergency
landing due to a cockeyed nose gear. This happened to an America West
A320 which made a safe landing at Columbus Ohio/KCMH six years ago.
AirBus issued a service bulletin instructing maintainers to replace an
O-ring.