EAL747...good move on your part...especially noted the "late winter" remark. You are right, pilots need to think and not just do checklists.
while we all know at altitude it is below freezing, when the freezing level is down to the deck, things don't thaw out .
today's wx at ORD approx time of incident:
METAR KORD 201053Z VRB04KT 10SM SCT250 18/14 A3003 RMK AO2 SLP166 T01780144
EAL, as you know, there are a couple of giant springs up in the nose gear compartment on the DC9 ( we called it the ROCKET). I was flying along one day and Kaboing! We landed and one of the springs was missing...may have fallen out when we put the gear down.
I wonder about the possibility of counterfit parts contributing to this? too early to know.
regards
jon