Originally Posted by
Meikleour
The photo seems to show that the gear has been lowered by gravity since the gear doors are all open..........
If the down lock signal is lost on one or more landing gear (e.g. RH MLG not detected as locked down by the LGCIU in command), the LGCIU will open the landing gear doors. When all gear detected as down locked, the doors will be commanded to close. So the fact that all the LDG doors were open does not necessarily mean the gear were extended using free-fall.
Considering the thrust (Eng2 in flames) and flap asymmetry (RH inboard flap and trailing edge false work hanging in tatters) and the apparent twist on the RH wing (funny angle of wing tip suggests rear spar damage at Rib 5?) the crew did will to control the aircraft - lateral/roll authority will have been rather compromised. It would be interesting to see how much rudder/aileron/spoiler it needed to fly straight. Aileron reversal could potentially occur if the wing box torsional stiffness was compromised. *Shudder!*