DaveReidUK
You are missing the point, with the aircraft on gate or in the hangar (ie stationary with no tow in progress) there is no point for having the Downlock pin fitted. The gear is down and locked. And the pins are removed after the tow, they do not take off with them fitted you know.
To say that this incident solely happened as the pin was fitted in the wrong point, without further explanation as to why the gear actually retracted, is a very incomplete explanation of this incident.
Obviously the aircraft had been towed, or did taxi onto gate. But are you saying that the tow commenced without gear pins fitted correctly, and the NLG collapsed with the tow bar and tractor connected during the tow? I see no evidence of this.
I am rated on the B787, and yes I have towed them onto gate many times. The first thing you do after you tow onto gate is remove the gear pins. The 787 is a very complex aircraft, you cannot second guess it, or take any shortcuts when carrying out any maint activity. And that is all I will say without speculating as to what actually happened here.
Last edited by Ngineer; 19th Jun 2021 at 10:03.