For those that have not got the new amendment (3 Dec 2004), the new procedure starts as follows:
“Condition: The landing gear lever cannot be placed to the UP position in the normal manner due to one or more of the following:
• Failure of the landing gear lever lock solenoid
• Failure of the air/ground system
• Failure of the ground spoiler bypass valve to close”
Of which the last failure is the new addition to the procedure.
The checklist then goes on to diagnose which of the failures you have and gives you the next steps, but there is no diagnosis of the new last failure or any checks for that specific failure.
MY GUESS is that someone has pointed out to Boeing that there is this third failure that can cause the condition so they have had to include it for the sake of completeness. I would also imagine (hope) that it will be operationally identical to one of the first two failures and will therefore be covered by the existing drills. To be practical, the take-off config warning horn can only either sound or remain silent after the flaps are fully retracted, which directs you either to failure 1 or 2.
Just as an aside, in case anybody has not grasped the significance of the caution “Do not operate the speedbrakes in flight” This is because if it is an air/ground problem the aircraft could think it is still on the ground and using speedbrake will deploy both flight and ground spoilers! Whilst this will silence those who say how ineffective the 737 speedbrakes are, it will also probably shake the aircraft to bits. Another reason to give yourself plenty of time in a non-normal situation.
S & L
Last edited by CaptainSandL; 18th February 2005 at 14:08.