PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - B777 After Thumping Checks...help!
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Old 18th Mar 2012, 04:45
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Ericfaint
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Oort cloud
Age: 66
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I have just done the opposite; 2 years ago I transitioned from the triple to the Queen. The Queen is just awesome, she is just so speed stable on takeoffs and landings. I must say I make my smoothest landings right on the spot on the B744. On the B777, I dreaded the times in gusty crosswinds when I did not decrab completely ending up with some twisty crunchers. The triple wheel bogies on the T-7 are certainly very intolerant of any residual crab especially in strong crosswinds on dry runways. One of my landings seemed particularly bad that we wrote it up for a hard landing check...it was a false alarm. The guys at FOQA pulled up the QAR readings which revealed a 1.55g vertically and a lateral g of 0.19, well within limits. However it felt so bad in the cockpit and the hostess gave us the funny looks!

An old timer explained that the Queen has excellent wing loading due to the 2 outboard engines, lending stability. Her wing/body gear combination and geometry plus the massive ground effect of the flaps gives her excellent touchdown characteristics. The 2 engine T-7 lacks speed stability of lateral wing loading of an outboard engine; the B777 wing loses a lot of lift during an abrupt decrabbing manoeuvre leading to heavy touchdown. Furthermore the long wheel base with triple in line wheels causes a sort of twisting moment ( sorry I lack the vocabulary ) which exacerbates the effects of the heavier touchdown to make it all seem a very bad landing if the decrab is not fully completed to align with the runway. This may not be technically correct, but that's the explanation I got. Hope this helps!
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