"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


Buff5200 wrote:

I watched the crash video frame-by-frame.

Got a URL?

The right main wheel appeared to
separate from the gear 1/10 second before the right main gear collapsed.
Then the left main gear collapsed, a few tenths after the right main.

If the gear collapsed suddenly, then it was not inadvertently raised on
the ground.
Retraction is by a screw mechanism and takes a few seconds.

George Patterson
If you don't tell lies, you never have to remember what you said.

I don't know how the retraction system works, so I 'm asking..

1) Isn't the screw jack "sized" for air loads, with some sort of over
center mechanism to handle the ground loads?

2) If that's the case, does the gear retraction mechanism have enough power
to pull the gear back "under center" (?) while the aircraft is on the
ground?

3) Would the screw jacks fail in this case?

What I'm getting at is if someone flipped the wrong switch, could that
explain the collapse of both mains, and explain why there are apparently
broken screw jacks on both mains? Otherwise, I find it extremely unlikely
that both gear systems (they are independant, right?) would have a similar
mechanical failure at the same time...

KB