LAT: Airbus Jets Have History of Nose Gear Trouble

[DeepModem Mom]

Airbus Jets Have History of Nose Gear Trouble
By Megan Garvey and Jennifer Oldham, Times Staff Writer


The problems with JetBlue Flight 292 marked the seventh time that the front landing gear of an Airbus jet has locked at a 90-degree angle, forcing pilots to land commercial airliners under emergency conditions, according to FAA records.

No one has been injured in the incidents. One involved another JetBlue flight into New York in November 2002, just three few weeks before a United Airlines flight into Chicago had the same problem, landing in a shower of sparks thrown from the nose gear after the tires ground down nearly to the axle.

Four of the earlier incidents — the two U.S. flights and two foreign — were traced to improper installation of a hydraulic shock.

The possibility of a faulty installation has led to three warnings about proper procedures in the past three years — advisories issued to airlines that included repeated cautions that failure to comply "is dangerous for aircraft safety."

In addition, the maker of the nose landing gear, Paris-based Messier-Dowty, said in a National Transportation Safety Board report dated April 2004 that the company had redesigned part of the gear to prevent the problem from recurring. But at that time, the company said it was awaiting approval of the redesign....


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jetblue23sep23,0,1294624.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[merwin]

1. I bet if the French gov't removed federal wage laws, brought Haliburton

in, and kicked everyone out of Paris, they would 'cut through the red tape' and get this problem solved!
:puke: :sarcasm:

[MercutioATC]

2. Q: What's the difference between an Airbus and a chainsaw?

A: About 2000 trees per minute.


This was big among Boeing pilots 8 or so years back.

[despairing optimist]

3. Seven incidents among thousands of flights, and it's a history of trouble?

Every aircraft design has flaws. I bet Boeing loves this story because Airbus Industrie has been eating its lunch lately.

[strategery blunder]

4. The only emergency landing I've experienced on an Airbus

was due to hydraulic problems; my flight was diverted to ATL (was supposed to be ORD-TPA). I had never heard of the landing gear problems until this JetBlue flight had its little problem...

I've never had an emergency landing on a Boeing plane although I got to experience an aborted takeoff, probably human error (another plane decided to partially stick its nose in the runway after we were cleared for takeoff).