BirdStrike opens Cargo Door!

[stuckgear]

wow 20 posts and no METAR posted, no French bashing, no FAA bashing, no Boeing Vs. Airbus, and no-one's brought up Ryanair.


Standards are slipping i tell ya !

[Momoe]

Reading the report it appears that the tower noticed the open cargo door as the acft was taxiing back in, ECAM message would have been recorded so we just need to know the timeframe and whether the ECAM message is generated by the door opening or the latch in the wrong position (or both).

[Harry Spotter]

...reported at least one sea gull hit the door handle of the forward cargo door and rotated the handle into the open position causing the forward cargo door to open.

Clearly the investigators played "Angry Birds" a bit too much.
No mentioning of that in their report...

[mad20001]

CS-TKJ made this morning the tests after repairs and looks like it's ready to get back in "business".

As for the cargo door question...belive in whatever in want...this is pretty full of experts who haven't been there...
Some stuff never happens until the first time...

[cyflyer]

Shall we discount the bird factor as secondary event (hardly an area of the fuselage that bird strikes are likely) and look at how the aircraft was dispatched with a cargo door in an unsafe position!

I think Aeromech has hit the nail on the head. The cargo door was never closed properly in the first place, and the crew failed to spot the indication. A bird strike would happen with a forward facing impact, not at the angle on the side of the fuselage that the doors are located, unless the aircraft was flying sideways at the same speed it was travelling forward !

[Machinbird]

Some stuff never happens until the first time...

For those of us who have never operated the handle on an A320 cargo door, does anyone have a picture of one of those suckers, including the area of the edge of the door.
Bird guts extruded under pressure of an impact can exert a lot of force and if there is something (like a handle release mechanism) that can be acted on by that force below the skin, then stuff can happen.

[cyflyer]

As for hitting a specific point on the fuselage, like a handle, when a strike happens blood and guts stream back a long way in the slipstream covering quite a large area. These are some photos from a friend of mine flying a 738 out of Humberside last year. What a mess they make.

[HAWK21M]

Considering the Cargo door operating mechanism......tough to believe

[mad20001]

Finally some pics on the landing.
A foreign spotter, on the right place, at the right time, sent me a few pics on the landing, where it's possible to see the open cargo door.

Check:
http://planesandstuff.********.com/2...irdstrike.html

[cwatters]

Seems this forum S/W is messing with URLs. You will have to figure out where that link points. The photos are there anyway. If not faked they appear to show door fully open on approach.

[mad20001]

Looks like indeed the forum is messing up with links and also with the links of the img, from the blog...just replace the ***** to "blog spot" (with no space)....

planesandstuff.********.com/2011/08/cs-tkj-landing-of-birdstrike.html

For the trust of the pics I only can answer for what was sent to me...
I checked the pics and the exif info on the pics...it seemed right...

Anyway, many people on the airport stated about the open doors, with no pics...The "experts" here just doubted anyone talking about the open door because it never happened... a first is the first......

Regarding the fact that it was the birdstrike or it was badly closed...will let that for the GPIAA report to decide.....

[JanetFlight]

I have no Photo Technics master's degree, so i really cannot express if its fake or not, but at least, quite interesting to see...

[contractor25]

I think that the explanation for this incident lies in the msn for this airframe: 795. In all probability it has the aft rotating handles which have now been replaced by upward rotating handles on the enhanced 320 family.
How much force actually is required to open the handle with one swing is something I don't know as we don't have the older models, but I think it can't be far beyond 25 lbs of force, once the doormechanism opens beyond a certain point, pressurisation will do the rest for sure.

[Ranger 1]

Interesting to note that the airfield concerned had a fixed ultrasonic bird scaring system which is completely useless and has been proven as such therefore no big surprise the birds were on the runway waiting

I have seen remains a Starling wedged firmly between the door and sill of a 757 front hold door many years ago which I would of expected to have glanced down the fuselage after being stuck.

First class job by the crew and credit to Airbus as well

[Lancasterman]

I agree with the description of operation of the cargo holds I still have a tech manual here somewhere and there is no way on gods green earth a bird of any size can cause the door to open. Sounds to me like the hydraulics were operated by the belly handle and the door was closed but not latched by the handle mechanism beside the cargo door itself..
Interestingly... why would the crew not have caught this during pre takeoff as the door unsafe light and lack of pressurization would have been a factor!?!?

[training wheels]

Could this be two unrelated incidents? I know the odds of this happening are quite high, but the could cargo door opening incident not be related to the birdstrike?

[RealFish]

Ten years on and the full final report on this incident at FNC has now been issued by the Portuguese authorities. Included is this, confirming a direct hit, by a bird, on forward cargo door handle recess, seemingly causing the door to open as the aircraft departed.

''Examination of the forward cargo door revealed pronounced blood smear on the surface skin just aft of the handle flap. There was also evidence of blood inside the handle recess, within the door structure (Figure 4). There was no visible damage to the door and no luggage items had ejected the cargo hold (Figure 4)...'

GPIAAF – Unidade de Aviação Civil