real captain speaking:
The last few posts have given me a huge grin.
So...
1. The plane is probably not a ''write off"...
2. The crew might not have entered a holding pattern to do their emergency check lists (we call them non routine or non normal) but they sure tried to get the geat down using normal and alternate methods
3. Embry Riddle is not the only way to learn to fly (I smiled the heck out of that one)
4. The landing gear doors on my favorite airliner support the gear while in normal flight...
5. Someone said that the nose of this plane looked like the DC6...well I think most Boeings (this was an airbus of course) look like an F7 diesel Locomotive
6. There are quite a few real pilots (atp etc) on this forum.
7. If I were flying to the New York area, I wouldn't go to Newark. (which some of us call "Sewark" as in sewer)
and finally...someone who doesn't NEED TO LEARN what an airline pilot does/is...probably needs to learn more than anyone else.
(ps...the crew could be at fault if they didn't do a proper walk around preflight inspection and missed an obvious problem...I'm sure they did do a proper walkaround...there is a remote possibility that some slush from Chicago was thrown into an unusual spot and froze up at altitude and didn't melt...thus jamming the gear...but one incident in the past had a mechanic place a wheel chock into a spot on a 737 and it jammed the gear...usair/piedmont...they showed that one on tv too)