A330 OGE with Abnormal Landing Gear

[Killaroo]

I was recently in the Sim and we did an Abnormal Landing Gear exercise which resulted in a successful landing with the nose gear retracted.
On coming to a stop and setting the parking brake we called ATC to advise us of any sign of fire from the nose area.
The Instructor said 'never mind that, Evacuate!'.
So, we did the OGE.

Afterward I told him I appreciated the fact that the Sim Check required an OGE as part of the standard - but in real life - would he really want to Evac with the tail pointing in the sky? Unless there was clear and present danger? Passenger injuries were inevitable.

He said yes. Always Evac for aircraft damage.

I strongly disagree.

What do you lot think?

[tdracer]

Sounds like the Gimli Glider scenario. There was some smoke and small fire in the nose area due to the friction but nothing serious.

They did suffer some passenger injuries due to the near vertical aft slides. In hindsight, the probably shouldn't have used the aft exits and sent everyone out the front.

[Killaroo]

Yes tdracer, good example.
In this part of the world I wouldn't be so sure the cabin crew would grasp that kind of precaution - or that the SLF wouldn't push them aside and open the aft doors anyhow themselves.

[bucket_and_spade]

In my outfit we've just adopted an option somewhere between a full shouting evac and a normal disembarkation - the flight crew give a command along the lines of 'controlled disembarkation by the L2/R2 slides'...might be a reasonable option in the scenario, assuming no crew or punters have gotten twitchy and already blown a slide?

The cabin crew are trained on the difference and give different commands if it's a controlled disembarkation - one's which reduce the chance of injury. It could also be 'upgraded' to a full evac at any point.

[Killaroo]

Sounds very sensible.

[Jetjock330]

I would agree with the evacuation and with that in mind, it does not constitute that all doors are opened or for that matter used. The evacuation can be done via the lower end slides (closer to ground/on ground reaching slides). The same is said with a fire outside, doors will not be opened in that direction. If a door is opened and a slide is not deployed, the door is blocked off by the cabin crew. However, we still see images off slides opened at the L4 and R4 doors dangling in the wind, but these doors should be blocked off or not used during a nose wheel abnormal landing.
There is a lot of heat generated in the scrubbing and sparks and possibly a lot of fuel close by. It would be better to be proactively safe I believe, as the passengers will need to get out anyway and time is never on your side, and neither is an airline lawyer!

[Dash8driver1312]

In ours, we evacuate for major structural failure and/or fire. Nose gear failure without fire/structural failure=controlled disembarkation.

However, in sim checks...show the examiner what he wants to see. In the real world (based in company procedures of course) make sure you can justify your actions.

[Killaroo]

Jetjock330 - you say there would be a lot of heat and sparks generated with a lot of fuel close by.
Where is the fuel?
In the un damaged wings?

So you make the leap of faith and order an evacuation from the forward doors - the ones closest to where all the heat and sparks came from. The site where you may be most likely to have a fire. In reality you may have 50% of your doors unusable (two forward, two aft).

Remember this one? Loads of flames and smoke.

Jet Blue Airbus nose gear failure on landing - YouTube (http://youtu.be/c-Lmfcma0ZI)

Apparently they 'disembarked' the pax - after 7 minutes!
JetBlue Airways Flight 292 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JetBlue_Airways_Flight_292)

Dash8driver - yes of course. We go into the Sim like lambs to the slaughter.
Do an Evac with instructor A and he may question your sanity when the a/c is generally undamaged.
Do no Evac with Instructor B and he'll jump down your throat for what he considers a mandatory Evac.
Its a guessing game. You can't win.
Or yet again, more negative training.

My rule of thumb - if it's burning, get out. If its not, think twice.