A330 Departure EGPF - Interesting

[Airbubba]

Originally Posted by maxred

Question, if for any reason climb performance was inadequate in an Airbus 330, would the crew leave the gear down to minimise drag on poor climb performance?

I agree, probably a deactivated brake (or the PNF was texting and forgot ). On light multiengine planes there is a perhaps more of a rush to raise the gear and reduce drag because some have a negative climb gradient with an engine failure and wheels down. On large planes it is argued that drag initially increases momentarily when the gear is selected up as the gear doors open so you want to make sure you are well established in a climb before raising the lever (or flipping the dinky little wheel-shaped switch on some widebodies). In the modern era with all kinds of electronic monitoring you'll probably get a phone call from the chief pilot's office if you are in the habit of raising the gear below 100 feet AGL on takeoff in an airliner. Or, so they tell me.

Here's a possible candidate for the plane you saw take the left turn at 1800 feet, it's the MCO flight:

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...15ZZ/EGPF/KMCO

https://www.flightradar24.com/TCX2650/11a71f81

On climbout decades ago an instructor pilot asked "Aviation Officer Candidate Airbubba, what do you think they raise around here in L.A. (Lower Alabama)?"

"Sir, I don't rightly know, looks like corn and cotton to me."

"Well, they raise they raise their damn GEAR!"