JetBlue 292

[Pigfish]

What a smooooth landing. Hats off to the pilot.

[Kresge]

Man! I was on the edge of my seat waiting for teh landing, thinking of all those people on there. Can you imagine sitting there oin an airplane seat knowing that you are about to possibly crash land and having to wait a few hours in that state of mind?! I'm glad everyone made it, that was a risky landing and it came off smoothly!

[Iceman]

Smoooooth as a baby's butt.

[August]

Originally Posted by Kresge

Man! I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the landing, thinking of all those people on there. Can you imagine sitting there oin an airplane seat knowing that you are about to possibly crash land and having to wait a few hours in that state of mind?! I'm glad everyone made it, that was a risky landing and it came off smoothly!

Not only that but the plane was equipped with LCD sreens in the seatbacks with satellite feed. The passengers were able to watch the same live coverage on the major news networks the rest of us did right up until a few minutes before landing.

A good lesson for media people to tone down the sensational reporting since the victims just might be watching.

[Pigfish]

I had just come home from work, turned on the TV, and CNN was giving live coverage. Got to thinking this was kinda strange, or creepy, as I could not recall seeing such a potential disaster LIVE in such detail. Media coverage to the extreme.

Gave me what the '911' feeling must have been like (I didnt see it live) and not sure if I liked that feeling... :hmm:

[Abraham]

Not just the pilots were exceptional, also the structure of the plane, especisally the undercarriage. I bet this was never considered in the design stage of the undercarriage and things could have gone totally wrong...

[diver]

Gave me what the '911' feeling must have been like (I didnt see it live) and not sure if I liked that feeling...

That still gives me the creeps, I remember i was watching and one minute there were the two buildings on fire, then the news coverage cut to the pentagon IIRC, when they came back somebody said to me that it looks as if one of the buildings has collapsed, i said "no way its gotta be just the camera angle", but of course one of the buildings had gone down.
I will never forget that moment.


Back to the topic at hand and brilliant work by the flight crew.

[JamesT73J]

Originally Posted by Abraham

Not just the pilots were exceptional, also the structure of the plane, especisally the undercarriage. I bet this was never considered in the design stage of the undercarriage and things could have gone totally wrong...

Believe it or not, it's not only considered, it's catered for. An off-centred, stuck nosewheel isn't unknown, and there is a procedure for it. Well done to the crew for getting it all right.

[tycho102]

Originally Posted by Kresge

Can you imagine sitting there oin an airplane seat knowing that you are about to possibly crash land and having to wait a few hours in that state of mind?!

Oh, no. The plane was never going to "crash".

The most important thing to remember on this issue is the nose gear was down and locked. A very stark difference from down and unlocked. One of the old tricks to retractable gear is the "slap-down". There have been many instances over the years where, because of electrical or hydraulic failure, the nose gear would drop due to gravity as per it's design, but the airstream wouldn't quite allow it to lock down. Pilots would have to set the main gear down, hard, to slap the nose gear into locked position. Many times taking more than one pass to do it, literally boucing on the runway while managing to keep the nose in the air.

So this little jewel was locked, and that changes the whole emergency. The pilot still did an outstanding job, reeling back on the elevators until the nose settled onto the runway gently. It was an emergency, but relatively minor emergency. Remember that DC-10 that lost all hydraulic power, and had to use differential thrust to do turns? That was a hardcore emergency.

I'm not sure why the passengers where not informed, however. I can understand "preventing a panic", but *something* should have been said before they started hearing about it on the TV's.

[Abraham]

Originally Posted by JamesT73J

Believe it or not, it's not only considered, it's catered for. An off-centred, stuck nosewheel isn't unknown, and there is a procedure for it. Well done to the crew for getting it all right.

Thanks for the info!
You're probably right...

[StdDev]

Now... isnt it time for some "Jet Blue Jokes" to relieve the tension created during the emergency?
Perhaps something about Jet Blues new 4 hour non-stop from Burbank to LAX... (badum bump)...

Seriously it was handled well and I am pleased it came out as it did

[Type941]

The pilots acted well and professionaly, did what they are taught to do. It's so nice in a modern sh*tty world where noone wants to take responsibilities, to know that there are still people who do their job well, know that they can't make a mistake and that you can rely on them in the hour of need. Big applause to the pilots and the flight attendants. That plane landed on that white line so perfectly, it was awesome. They deserve every cent they get paid. hats off.

And yes, the airbus and many modern planes are build not only to withstand a collision like a collapsed front pillar of the wheelgear, but also they are built to withstand a full belly landing, which is obviously a much more dramatic and dangerous procedure.

[Kapitan]

well nice landing but could have been a disaster glad it wasnt

[SUBMAN1]

Yep, been through that myself in my fathers airplane once. The gear was having problems retracting and the reason was that the wheel was cocked like this (The steering cables broke on take off). All you can think upon landing is that you are going to cartwheel when the nose gear touches down. So, you just keep off the front wheel as long as possible before touching it down on the pavement, using the airframe to slow the speed.

Unlike this aircraft however, when we touched the front wheel onto the pavement, it wobbled back into position, unfortunately with no control, but it could have been worse. And unlike this aircraft, we managed to taxi off the runway anyway, steering via left or right throttle control and allowing the engines to pull us as well as using individual toe brakes as a sort of improvised control scheme.

Just my thoughts on Jet Blue - I think the pilot did well on this one. Straight as an arrow using only rudder control. I did think he got on that nose gear a bit too soon though, but of course, he is the pilot.

-S

[tycho102]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

I did think he got on that nose gear a bit too soon though, but of course, he is the pilot.

No, because he's got to minimize the force on it. If he had waited until he stalled out, the plane would've dropped extra force on it, making it more likely to collapse. And that's the same reason he rolled out, rather than braking hard. If he'd laid in with brakes and reversers, he's definately have caved the nose in. As it is, he used minimal brakes to make sure he shut down on the runway, rather than the overbound grass. It definately would've sunk in and snapped.

That the nose strut didn't snap on the runway does show good design. They'll have to replace that strut, and xray the airframe for stress, but that's about it. The engines probably didn't pickup any FOD, and the flaps probably didn't catch all that much junk.