Very good points Brit312, but remember that bearing migration if the spacer was ommited would almost certainly be progressive, not sudden. Remamber that this take off was grossly over weight, with a CG well aft of the MAXIMUM allowable 54%, over an initially VERY rough surface not being used by any other traffic. (The runway, 26L was damaged at it's extremity and no other aircraft were using full length). The aft CG alone would have radically reduced the effectiveness of the nose wheel steering. (Oh, and the takeoff was into wind too). It takes very little imagination to picture the trauma that the L/H gear was experiencding. Your points regarding fire damage possibly seem valid, although PFCU pipes were titanium, if I remember rightly,but the FDR showed that the aircraft just ran out of flying speed when it came down. The whole point here is to try and get all of the facts out, not just those that suit AF!!
But over all, a good post with accurate information.
Last edited by M2dude; 2nd Feb 2010 at 18:18.