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Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely

By Jeralyn, Section Off Topic
Posted on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 05:41:52 PM EST
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Breaking news...a Jet Blue flight en route from Burbank to JFK with 144 people on board has a landing gear failure and will try and touch down shortly at LAX with its landing wheels sideways.

Think good thoughts...

Update: the cable news stations are carrying the landing live. There are over 100 emergency personnel on the ground. It's trying to dump more fuel so it can make the emergency landing - maybe in five to ten minutes.

Update: It's coming in for a landing. Front wheels are smoking, it landed fine, no fire, it's fine. Good work by the crew - wow. That was unbelievable. Everyone's safe.

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    • Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely | 13 comments (13 topical)
    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#1)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    TL, this is SOP, it is nowhere near as dramatic as the mediawhores would make it seem. This is a standard practice senario. Everyone will make it out OK as long as the pax don't panic. It's called a 'soft landing', all pilots are trained in 'short and soft' landing. The gear is down, only the nose gear is having a problem. This isn't an 'accident' scenario, this is an 'incident' scenario.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#2)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    Sailor - Correct, and what a beautiful job he did of bringing his nose up and floating it along the runway. But I did expect the nose wheel to finally collapse, his touch was fantastic. BTW - FNC had the pilot of UAL232 providing some details. That's another guy who proved he could fly...

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    ppj - he was on msnbc too. They're saying now landing with those wheels sideways could have flipped the plane over. [corrected]

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    seemed pretty urgent to me sailor. My nerves were on edge watching this landing. Kudos to the crew.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#5)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    TL, " They're saying now landing with those wheels safely could have flipped the plane over" not sure what you' (or they) are saying. Et al, the guy did a great job that he had been trained for. The next time someone trashes an ATP pilot, remember they are the first one to the scene of the accident. They can lose their license at anytime due to a med prob that a civilian wouldn't even notice. They devote their lives to training and safety. The occasional probelms they have are not indicative of the majority, they are by far the minority. See ComAv record vs. every other profession or means of travel.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#6)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    Wasn't 232 the one that landed in Iowa and cartwheeled? That pilot was incredible. I didn't expect to see anyone walk away from that one and there were many survivors. Sailor, I agree the media humped this big time. And there is NFW that plane would have flipped. Once the main gears make contact and the weight settles, and at that speed (approx 90 mph), it's to heavy to flip. It's not a bicycle.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#7)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    GregZ, I understand your point ... but have you ever seen what the media does to a car chase or a fire? They always go for the hysterical sound bite because it makes 'good TV' I'm sure the pilots were sweating, this is probably the first time they have ever seen the scenario outside of the simulator. But they are professionals, trained in this situation, followed the manual, did a GREAT job holding the nose up. They did their jobs admiraby, maybe even exceptionally, but not heroically. The guy who landed the Kansas plane a few years ago with no hydrolics, an engine out, only asymetric thrust as the control with no ailerons, laps or slats ... THAT guy was a hero. But he felt he had let his pax and crew down.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#8)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    Che - Yes. et al - I don't see it flipping, but if he had let his nose wheel come down too soon or too hard I can see it folding and letting the nose hit the runway. At that point he would have no control, and I can see the aircraft sliding sideways, tearing a wing off and rolling sideways with the resultant fire and destruction. One helluva job by the crew.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#9)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    Been there, done that. On January 16, 2000 I was on a USAirways flight from Pittsburgh to Grand Rapids. The plane was about 20 minutes from landing when I noticed the plane circled the same batch of city lights a couple times. Then the captain comes on the intercom to inform us that the plane had lost the number one hydraulic system. This meant that the front wheels could not be steered. So we needed a big, wide runway to land on. After talking about landing in Milwaukee or Detroit it was decided to try to put it down on the big runway at Grand Rapids. Then came about 45 minutes of circling to burn off as much fuel as possible. The waiting was the worst part of the whole ordeal. I just wanted that thing landed and the suspense to end. The flight attendents had everyone put their heads against the seats in the front of them and chant "head down, stay down, brace, brace" over and over again while we went in. Since the plane couldnt be steered once on the runway, the pilot had to put it down straight....or it would go off into the grass. I snuck a peak at the white line at the side of the runway and it stayed perfectly still as we touched down and rolled...so I knew the crew had done their job well. It was the greasiest smooth landing I have ever experienced. There must have been several dozen emergency vehicles lined up at the end of the runway. Again, the waiting was the worst part. The ironic thing was that the plane had been a replacement for a flight that was canceled to due to mechanical problems. That had already been a delay of several hours. Of course to add insult to life-threatening experience, my luggage didn't show up til the next day.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#10)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    Ernesto, I was thinking, as the plane was circling, that the passengers must have been scared to death. Good job by the crew keeping everyone calm. I was suprised that the nose didnt hit the ground, which could have injured the pilots, or broken the nose off. That was some strong strut! Airbus stock should go up after this.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:12 PM EST
    Roger.... Airbus stock should go up after this. Maybe not.... They still need to find out why the strut got turned sidewase like that. As a pilot... my hats off to those guys that brought that plane in...smooth job!

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#12)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:12 PM EST
    I thought the strut might collapse. I was surprised it didn't. That pilot must have set it down so gently. There's a story for a lot of grandkids.

    Re: Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely (none / 0) (#13)
    by Kitt on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:13 PM EST
    FYI: FNC had the pilot of UAL232 providing some details. That's another guy who proved he could fly.... Cpt. Haynes was on ALL the cable news channels...CNN, Fox & MSNBC - he also manages to contribute the success of his 'landing' to luck & a couple of other things because they had no hydraulics. Yeah, okay - luck. Whatever makes HIM happy.

    Jet Blue Flight Lands Safely | 13 comments (13 topical)