Originally Posted by
condor17
Bean ,
Our first batch of 8 , part of a cancelled California order ; came with long nose gear . Looked like they were 'waddling' around the taxiways . Flew ok , but we were told the long gear was so that 'Parrots could use airbridges . Which we did , mostly in Germany on the short IGS [Internal German Services , out of Berlin ] routes . Proper Highlands and Islands we used the airstairs , which worked well . By the time the second batch came , to finally retire the 'Budgie [748] ; someone at Woodford had actually looked at an airbridge ! Of course the short gear was perfectly suitable , and saved weight . At last we did not 'waddle around anymore .
Think they were also interchangable . Seem to remember one or two of the first batch came out of overhaul with a short nose gear .
Good machine , but built West of the Pennines with 50p gadgets instead of £1 gadgets , thus the sobriquet Advanced Technical Problem .
'Fraid I'm not an engineer and also cannot answer your second ques.
rgds condor .
Ahem ....alas , your project costing is wide of the mark. Had you said 2p gadgets however.....
.As for the nose u/c, true, the shortened leg did appear. Sadly, nobody actually thought about lubrication of said leg because there were at least two, possibly three, grease nipples that were inaccessible once installed. As for the airstairs, yep, they did work quite well...when operated internally, but, as has been mentioned many times whenever queries are posted on here about the biggest heap of unadulterated junk ever to achieve certification .....you may detect just a hint of conscious bias here.....the location of the external operating button at the fwd side and base of the main door was " not the most astute choice of location ". As for interchangeability, possibly, with the legs. Elsewhere, with bits of structure and certainly the horizontal stab de-icer boots, every one "hand crafted " by the diligent lads at Chadd to a tolerance of + / - 6inches......well ok, 5.5 ins, interchangeability was more in hope rather than expectation ...