737 flapless at ncl?

[piper pervert]

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has heard about a Helios 737 trying multiple times to land with t/e flaps u/s? Problem allegedly occured on approach to newcastle from cyprus on fri or sat gone.Local press reported that he circled the area for a while to burn off fuel and between 6 and 7 attempts were then made to get it down in one piece.A full emergency evacuation then took place.I can confirm that the a/c's return flight was definately delayed for 2.5 days while they fixed the prob as the local news was filled with irritable pax sitting in hotel lounges.
Basically just wondered if anyone had any juicy details about the actual events.Is 6-7 attempts poetic license on behalf of the press?

Cheers

PP

[The Greaser]

Dont know why he would be burning off fuel after a flight from cyprus to be honest. And a flapless landing on a long runway is no big deal, absolutely no reason it should take more than 1 go. After 6 or 7 trys I think he would run out of fuel! Sounds like the press are making a big deal out of the aircraft holding to sort the problem out.

[10 DME ARC]

I can say for definite that the a/c held trying to solve the problem and then burn't some more fuel off (you can get a long way in them 800's).
The crew then made one and only one perfect flapless approach and landing without even warming the brakes- no story!
Getting the outbound punters to Cyprus, well thats another story!
:)

[witchdoctor]

Hope the local press never have to make a 'full emergency evacuation'. They might be disappointed when the ground crew don't show up with the front and back stairs. Bunch of tossers - no wonder they're still just the local press. :rolleyes:

[Joyce Tick]

I'd love to know the final tech explanation for the TE Flaps up landing...it's incredibly rare as you need a loss of system B hydraulics or a Flap selector failure PLUS a failure of the completely independent alternate electric system. Asymmetric flap <1 would cause the same failure in effect - but that's pretty damn rare too...

[The Greaser]

We have had some recently - put down to flap spindle fractures in some of the older -300's we have.

[tewkesbury]

How about a U/S Skew Sensor? Well that's what fixed it. Rare! maybe, but not impossable.

[Arkroyal]

Joyce, not that rare.

If the 800 system is like the 300, then the assymetric signal is dependant only on the gauge indications. Lose the signal from one side to the gauge, and you have an assymetric problem, (even though you don't really), and then you can't use the electric motor.

Don't you just love Boeings:yuk:

[tewkesbury]

No, it isn't like the Classic.

[Joyce Tick]

..or maybe even the FSEU? Captain not-so-marvellous?