Originally Posted by
JW411
One evening at Cork, the 727 doing the UPS schedule got airborne with the rear cargo door unlocked. The packages started coming out at VR and continued to decorate the countryside all the way round the circuit until it landed back. I have forgotten what most of the boxes contained but it was very expensive.
I think they also had to shut No.3 down.
Anyway, it gave a whole new meaning to being a freight distributor!
I believe they also accelerated to a very high speed prior to reducing it if I remember the report correctly. The wide open door does interfere with the airflow into the #3 engine. There was some question about a microswitch that was never resolved but obviously the door was never latched.
In another report I read, the lower cargo door on this type was closed by groundcrew but not latched. It was close to the faired position but with the handle was sticking out. But being nighttime it was not noticed by anybody. The microswitch was working in that case. The report noted that it is possible for someone to give a quick look at the door annunciator panel very quickly and if you are not paying attention, mix up the APU light for the cargo door light as they are one above the other.
The outward opening cargo doors on the -200 are not plug type doors. That is why that door at Cork opened up to distribute cargo.
These outward opening doors do have some sort of balance mechanism to make a very heavy lower cargo door easy to operate to open and close. If it is not working, you then realize how heavy these doors actually are.