Another dumb question: I don't know but I'm asuming the 747 is like the 737 and if you need to swing the gear, you jack the nose. How come inserting the jack isn't a backup safety feature in the SOP for this procedure? or for that matter put an airbag under the a/c. Relying on one pin seems a litle risky.
If the answer is that it'd be too expensive to have a jack on hand, well...