PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Boeing uncommanded nosewheel steering events
Old 12th Jan 2014, 23:00
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bluedonk
 
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As I recollect it was a perfectly normal Departure. There were no adverse weather conditions. The engines were spooled up to 1.2EPR and balanced before EPR engaged. It was quite a violent left turn and full right rudder had no effect. I cannot remember what the tiller input was. I take the point of asymmetric power application, but that was not the case here. I have seen the effects of unbalanced power application and that was not the cause in this case. The EPR as I remember were normal, the aircraft path was not. It all happened very quickly but at low speed. There was no runway excursion but a sobering experience none the less, it gets your attention, when, with full right rudder the aircraft turns left.

I am sure there are sky gods out there who have an answer in the blame culture we are now part of, I do not. For many years I have asked what caused it, I have no idea. The rudder control problems on the 737 I think have some similarities. It took a long time to figure out there was in fact a technical problem. This is such a rare event, I have never seen it again with my 10000 hours on the airplane, but it did happen. It happened with an expierenced crew,familiar with the airplane, current, well trained, and well rested and in good ambient conditions. I post this hoping that someone will benefit. I am very circumspect now when power is applied and a reject even at low speed is something that requires attention. I was lucky but it had the potential for a very different outcome.
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