11.1.2011 POLISH LOT 767 EMERGENCY LANDING

Can anyone explain why some sort of gravity drop was not used to lower the gear? Isn't that normal procedure? That same technique was used on that 767 in Canada which landed with no fuel (however, the front gear did not lock). I have seen this so far:
"LOT said the hydraulic system responsible for operating the wing flaps and the landing gear failed, and backup system worked only for the flaps -- forcing the emergency landing."
Would a malfunctioning hydraulic system prevent the gear from dropping at all?
Thanks!

Don't forget, most airplanes have gear locks that prevent them from just "dropping out". Alot of possibilities and the 763 is an airplane I am not super well versed on but if they had multiple hyd faults or some sort of a problem that bleads the system dry it may well prevent the gear from dumping.

This is the incident I am referring to, it was a 767-200: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

Amazing airmanship. Instead of making Polish jokes, I think something like this could end the Polish jokes for all time!

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Originally Posted by Phil D.

... I think something like this could end the Polish jokes for all time!

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Not likely Phil, I have many Polish friends, and it would be a crime not to be able to bust their chops! Let's start with Mark "Zee71" and Chris :tongue:

No mention has been made of the excellent SPOTTER coverage... some excellent images on A.net right now...

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Originally Posted by rkfast

I was gonna post "How many polish guys does it take to lower the landing gear" or some such nonsense, but decided against it, as Im new here and dont want my lousy sense of humor to offend anyone.

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A lousy sense of humor never offended anyone here...:tongue:

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Originally Posted by gonzalu

No mention has been made of the excellent SPOTTER coverage... some excellent images on A.net right now...

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Absolutely! Great captures!

I believe a ramp worker at Newark left his giant kielbasa sandwich some where on the main landing gear. As the gear was getting retracted the giant kielbasa fell out of the sandwich and caused the gear to jam. Bottom line ...... know where you left your kielbasa, because it may cause some serious heartburn.

Aside from that, it an awesome landing under such conditions.

From: http://www.smartcockpit.com/data/pdf...nding_Gear.pdf

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Landing Gear Alternate Extension
The alternate landing gear extension system uses an electric motor to trip the locking mechanism for each gear. Selecting DN on the ALTN GEAR EXTEND switch releases all door and gear uplocks. The landing gear free-fall to the down and locked position.

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All retractable gear aircraft should have a means of lowering the gear when the normal system fails. Just what happened here remains to be seen. It's possible there was a mechanical failure that prevented one of the gear to extend, and it was deemed safer to land gear up than on only one main. Time will tell.

Indeed. My best guess is that the hydraulic system may not have released in some way, if it did malfunction. If they would not prevent it from supplying fluid to keep it up and locked, nothing they can do.

There is word of wisdom in Poland : that polish pilot will fly and land even a barn door. This sentence is actually from England, someone said that after Air Battle for England where Polish Pilots helped RAF to fight with Luftwaffe doing some crazy stuff in the air :) Yes Im proud to be Polish :))))

Polish Jokes ?? usually not funny.... but oh well.. welcome to America..... :)))) I tell you that Polish people are not offended by Polish jokes....

Pilot of this 767 is a glider pilot and glider aerobatic pilot. Gliders are very popular in Poland btw You can see how smooth he is touching down and keeping (I don't know how) the wings straight. I talked to some people today they said this landing was exactly the same like a glider landing where u trying to keep wings level as long as possible to put the glider on the side when stop :)

See a lot of "cool" pictures but to be honest I hope to never see anything like that...


I follow Polish TV today... Im watching live whats going at the airport looks like airport will be closed for 2 days. I don't know why... but oh well.. they checking runway, making sure that is safe to use, second Runway could be used but plane stopped too close to the crossing. They trying to move plane....

Someone asked why they didn't try to open "manually". They did.... They broke the locks holding landing gear, they did all they could.... Pilot noticed problem with hydraulic system after the take off from Newark, not sure why they decided to fly to Europe.... still not much info around. Actually there is a lot but you know in situations like that everyone is an expert, and nothing is official yet..... Thx god 231 people are safe, Plane Crew did amazing job.

Three cheers to the pilot, Czeszjlwy SzyŁŁwnbergwrj!

Ive managed to find a few shots I took of LPC back in 08....

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/IMG_1195.jpg
http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/IMG_0849.jpg

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Originally Posted by moose135

From: http://www.smartcockpit.com/data/pdf...nding_Gear.pdf



All retractable gear aircraft should have a means of lowering the gear when the normal system fails. Just what happened here remains to be seen. It's possible there was a mechanical failure that prevented one of the gear to extend, and it was deemed safer to land gear up than on only one main. Time will tell.

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I realize I'm not writing this about an airplane, but on the helicopter that I wrote a major portion of the landing gear maintenance manual for, there is an "emergency blowdown" system which consists of a nitrogen charged vessel on each langing gear assembly that when activated forces the landing gear retraction actuator into the down and locked position. I'm surprised more a/c don't have these.