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tribdog
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A Quantas airplane flying between Sydney and Melbourne yesterday had to turn around and return because a "faulty landing gear" light came on. Why turn around? You got to land either way.
tribdog said:A Quantas airplane flying between Sydney and Melbourne yesterday had to turn around and return because a "faulty landing gear" light came on. Why turn around? You got to land either way.
Ivan Seeking said:They want to land as soon as possible. If they are closer to the point of departure than the destination, they turn around.
Evo said:I'd want them to fly until as much fuel is used as possible.
lisab said:Don't planes dump fuel before an emergency landing?
Evo said:I'd want them to fly until as much fuel is used as possible.
That's what I was thinking too, get to the destination and then circle until the fuel is nearly used up, or dump it then, rather than dumping a full tank!lisab said:Don't planes dump fuel before an emergency landing?
Ah, that makes more sense. If the problem is they can't retract the landing gear, then they can't fly with it sticking out I suppose (though if they couldn't dump fuel and had to circle, I'd rather be heading closer to my destination instead of doing circles...circles are killer on my stomach). Do they just get some light saying there's a problem, or can they get more specific information about the position the landing gear is stuck in? If it's retracted and just can't be lowered again for landing, I'd rather do that wherever I'm going.Andre said:Reverting to the OP, if there is something wrong with the landing gear, you got to assume that things are sticking out of the wings and belly. That's not healthy for an aircraft. If you'd accelerate to cruising speed, beautiful mechanisms may suffer structural damage leading to catastrophical results.
That would be the exception to my desire to get to my destination. If it was some small airport with short runways, perhaps, then yes, direct the flight to some other airport or turn around.Greg Bernhardt said:Perhaps the destination airport was not as well equipped to handle a possible emergency.
Moonbear said:If the problem is they can't retract the landing gear, then they can't fly with it sticking out I suppose (though if they couldn't dump fuel and had to circle, I'd rather be heading closer to my destination instead of doing circles...circles are killer on my stomach).
can they get more specific information about the position the landing gear is stuck in?
Yep! Limit switches offer little real information, but can be interlocked to prevent full operation of related systems, even if the fault is trivial.Andre said:Basically, no it's just a switch in the end of the cycle. Imagine the complexability of having camera's on every item that may fail; although it could be the future.
It's a horrible waste of fuel to dump it if they instead could have been on the way to the destination before dealing with the problem landing.Andre said:Sorry Moonbear, it's a bit different. They can dump the lot in minutes. That's only a problem for the folks below.
Second, you wouldn't notice a bit about those 'circles'. The ear vasculatory system reponds to changes in accerelation only. Without visual clues from outside you would never notice 'circling'
Moonbear said:That's not true. What makes one sick is not having the visual cues to match the ears telling you they're going in circles! The vestibular system of the ears is not a vascular system either.
Office_Shredder said:Second, according to Moonbear I can spin around in a chair without getting sick.
Moonbear said:It's a horrible waste of fuel to dump it if they instead could have been on the way to the destination before dealing with the problem landing.
That's not true. What makes one sick is not having the visual cues to match the ears telling you they're going in circles! The vestibular system of the ears is not a vascular system either.
tribdog said:Personally, if the plane has no problem flying but might have a problem landing, I'd rather take my chances at my destination. I definitely don't want them to turn around so that I can die sooner.
OK, though I have conflicts regarding whether my plane crashes at my origination or at my destination. At least I might have gotten my ticket-price worth if I crashed at my destination. Duh...youngoldman said:That's all well and good if they don't tell you the plane has got landing gear dramas, but if they do I'd rather have the 'I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die!' phase shortened as much as possible
Moonbear said:That's what I was thinking too, get to the destination and then circle until the fuel is nearly used up, or dump it then, rather than dumping a full tank!
Ah, that makes more sense. If the problem is they can't retract the landing gear, then they can't fly with it sticking out I suppose (though if they couldn't dump fuel and had to circle, I'd rather be heading closer to my destination instead of doing circles...circles are killer on my stomach). Do they just get some light saying there's a problem, or can they get more specific information about the position the landing gear is stuck in? If it's retracted and just can't be lowered again for landing, I'd rather do that wherever I'm going.
That would be the exception to my desire to get to my destination. If it was some small airport with short runways, perhaps, then yes, direct the flight to some other airport or turn around.
The faulty landing gear light on the Sydney-Melbourne flight was caused by a malfunction in the aircraft's landing gear system. This could be due to a variety of factors, such as a mechanical issue or an electrical problem.
While the faulty landing gear light may have caused some concern for the passengers, it did not pose a direct safety threat. The pilots are trained to handle such situations and have protocols in place to ensure the safety of all passengers and crew.
The pilots of the Sydney-Melbourne flight followed standard procedures for dealing with a faulty landing gear light. They notified ground control and continued to closely monitor the landing gear system while preparing for a safe landing.
After any incident, the airline and aircraft manufacturer will conduct thorough investigations to determine the root cause and implement any necessary measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. This could include updates to maintenance procedures or improvements to the landing gear system.
While any malfunction in an aircraft is concerning, faulty landing gear lights are relatively common and are usually resolved without any major issues. Pilots are trained to handle these situations and have backup systems in place to ensure the safety of all passengers and crew.