Typhoon nose gear door question...

[Rhino power]

Can anyone explain why the nose gear door on the Typhoon is shorter than the gear bay itself? When the gear is up and the door is closed there is a noticeable gap at the rear of the door...
And while I'm at it, is there any particular reason portable steps are used for crew access, rather than the internal ladder? Is it just more convenient/safer etc, to use the portable steps?

-RP

[Just This Once...]

The gap is to shed heat and proper steps (if available) are indeed safer and more convenient.

:ok:

[Rhino power]

Thanks, JTO. I did wonder if the gap was maybe to do with heat build up, but where does the heat originate from? Is it avionics or something to do with the design of the intake maybe, surely it's not from the nose gear itself?

-RP

[Just This Once...]

Proximity of the intake.

:ok:

[sandiego89]

I seem to recall for at least the F-16 there was a good deal of debate over the internal ladder vs external ladder. Col. Boyd and others in the fighter mafia fought intensly for every pound and cubic inch and managed to keep an internal ladder off.

No internal ladder does make the autere/off base landing a bit more complicated, but seems a reasonable trade off for land based fast jets that will almost always be close to some type of ground support.

The early F-117 ladder is the perhaps the best fast jet ladder story- IIRC some enterprising crew chiefs went to a hardware store, bought a folding ladder, made a few alterations like wrapping the legs with some pipe insualtion to prevent marring the stealth surface- I'm sure the Lock-mart version would have been gold plated and cost many X more.

[Rhino power]

Many thanks, JTO... :)

-RP

[TEEEJ]

Image of Typhoon nose gear door.

http://i.stack.imgur.com/Z4kob.jpg

[EAP86]

Doesn't the avionic cooling air pass via the Nose U/C bay when the engines aren't running? I've a feeling the internal ladder is a bit under-specced for continuous use; there had to be one but the weight penalty was far from welcome when the UK in particular were obsessive about meeting the ESR target.

EAP

[Herod]

It must be an age thing, but when I saw the thread title my first thought was "but the Typhoon didn't have a nose-wheel".

[Tarnished]

Back in the day when there were only 7 Typhoons then in existence, I was tasked to undertake a visual inspection (then deemed required) following a new max speed achievement on the twin seater (DA4). Being eagle eyed I spotted said gap and called it that they had shed a door and should curtail the remainder of the planned sortie. This was much to the annoyance of the then Min DP who was in the back seat for a long awaited ride to see what his money was paying for!!

I won't surprise you to learn that a great many people were kind enough to send me pictures and drawings - which obviously I couldn't return.

Tarnished