emergency landing at Newark

Wow, it looks like the gear got stuck on the door. I wonder if they dropped the gear while turning or something similar. (That's all speculation on my part.)
 
Wow, it looks like the gear got stuck on the door. I wonder if they dropped the gear while turning or something similar. (That's all speculation on my part.)

You think that would make a difference? I'm (fairly) certain that I've dropped gear in turns before, and I doubt the doors are side loaded much more than in normal straight and level flight.

My guess, and of course this is conjecture, is that something in the sequencing of lowering the gear got screwed up. I.E. The doors didn't move fast enough, or the gear came out too early, or something like that.

Just a guess, knowing nothing about the hydraulic system on the Airbus.
 
I'm no Airbus tech, but I'd imagine if the gear was not mechanically linked to the door, there would be at least a sequence valve to prevent something like that. I'd be looking at a problem on the airplane itself.
 
You would think so, but these things have a tendency to defy logic until you get to the root of the problem. A couple years ago, I was having a recurring problem on the KC-135. The crew would put the gear handle down, the gear would come down and they would get three down and locked indications, but the handle light would not extinguish. Every time this happened they would have to ensure they actually had a safe gear. We were doing quick turns in Afghanistan and the last thing we wanted was an overnight there due to maintenance. Because the gear was, in fact, locking down and the doors appeared to be closing (up), we focused on the gear door microswitches. After 13 hours of flying, we stayed with the plane and trouble shot for hours. Nothing obvious stuck out. After a half day of messing around with it, two us went to bed and the 3rd stayed to continue. When we got up and came back, still no good news. We sat on the flight deck, discussing our next move, when one of my coworkers tapped the gear handle while talking. The light went out. Wait...was it burnt out? No. Are the doors up? Yes. It never occurred to any of us that it's possible to have the gear handle down and gear down with doors up and still have the light on with the door switches working properly. One of the two microswitches in the gear handle had failed. I guess my point is sure, you've got a heavy gear pushing down, but you could also have bent metal or broken linkage in play. I've also seen blown tires, snubbers and centering cylinders cause problems. Despite our best efforts to keep that swinging gear clear of obstacles, there are still some things that can happen. Just the "arm" of the gear vs. the "arm" of the doors can be tricky, for example.
 
Landing-Gear Door Malfunction Suspected in United Jet Incident
JANUARY 13, 2010
By ANDY PASZTOR

...​
Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board, [industry] officials said Wednesday, are pursuing a theory that the emergency deployment didn't work because right panel of the main landing-gear door didn't fully open. The right main gear caught on the panel and couldn't extend. It isn't clear what caused the problem, or why the gear initially failed to extend.

Also Wednesday, leaders of the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association scheduled and then abruptly cancelled a press conference slated for Thursday, at which the captain and co-pilot of Flight 634 were scheduled to recount the incident. Local union officials called the conference partly to generate some positive publicity, possibly hoping to influence ongoing labor negotiations with the carrier.

But after discussions with company and national ALPA officials, the press conference was abruptly cancelled. It is unusual for pilots to make public statements during the course of an investigation. Dave Kelly, a spokesman for the United pilots' union, said Thursday night that the move was prompted by "scheduling conflicts."
...​
 
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