PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Caribbean B738 at Georgetown on Jul 30, 2011, overran runway
Old 4th Aug 2011, 10:03
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Shorrick Mk2
 
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I measure approximately 45 feet from the lip at the top of the embankment down to where the ground levels off under the tail. I see no tracks down that embankment in the photos in message 75.

How fast would the aircraft have to have been moving (at the top of the embankment) to have enough inertia to continue off the top of the embankment so that both the nose gear and MLG remain off the ground, leaving no tracks, until the aircraft settled into it's final resting location?
The slope is to steep and the distance between the nosewheel and the MLG too long to expect nosewheel tracks down the embankment. The moment the nosewheel goes past the lip, the plane will drop onto the engine nacelles, like with a nosewheel collapse. If you look at the 3rd photo here you can see what looks like the track of the left nacelle dragging along the embankment (right behind the left stab - there's one guy clad in black walking down it). Once the nose will have impacted the ground below, it's quite likely that the MLG will not necessarily roll down the embankment, its task being taken over by the aft fuselage.
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