smudge,
yes if the lines were damaged then no amount of Hydraulic 'fiddling' would help. I was trying to understand from Dean's post how they came to be so damaged and whether this could be blamed on our 'suspect'. Or was it just one of those coincidences. The nose gear could be encouraged to freefall by the application of a lever on the co pilot's side of the a/c. Then a mix of speed and gentle manouveres could persuade it to lock down.