Flybe Dash 8 400 nosegear failure at Belfast airport
 

I can't post the direct link, but try googling the above subject or go directly to the Belfast Telegraph's home page. ( eg www belfasttelegraph co uk (with some "."'s added as appropriate) )

The BBC news site has picked up the story now - "Belfast flight lands without nose gear ".

Here it is..

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...-36307745.html

Thank you. :)

Picture on the bbc news site

'crash'? Looks well controlled to me. Good job up front:ok:

FLYBE STATEMENT
BE331
Belfast City - Inverness
A Flybe spokesperson confirms:
“Flybe can confirm that one passenger was taken to hospital with a minor hand injury following an incident involving one of our aircraft this afternoon which landed with its nose gear raised at Belfast International Airport at 1330 local time.
There are no further reports of any other passenger or crew injuries.
There were 52 passengers plus one infant on board and four crew members.
We are sending a specialist team to Belfast to offer assistance and we will now do all we can to understand the cause of this incident.
All statements relating to this incident will be posted immediately on the Flybe website at www.flybe.com"

Is this the first time the nose gear has had problems on a DHC-8? Its usually the main gear.

Another idiotic headline! Hardly a "crash" landing and what do they think would happen when you land with the nose gear up?

No. Google revealed at least four and I didn't bother scrolling down to look for more.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97499763@N06/38277093122/

G-JEDU

The DH8D has around one significant gear issue a month, it has been that way for years. This is significantly more than its competitor the ATR, although a fair share of its incidents are also gear related. What is clear is that turboprops suffer gear issues much more regularly than their pure jet cousins. Given that only a small percentage of these fleets will regularly use rough strips it seems odd that this should still be the case.

I suspect its the length of average sector and with the Q400 the average firmness of landings. 10 sectors a day for a TP I wouldn't consider unusual.

Someone told me its 2.1G before its classed as a hard landing for q400.

There are several factors involved.
Short sectors mean more landings per day.
Shorter runways encourage firmer contact and harder braking.
Slower approach speeds make turboprops more vulnerable to crosswind gusts and the associated gear abuse.
Less experienced crews could also be a factor.

In this case the crew handled it well and everyone walked away. They will almost certainly be able to use the aircraft again so it qualifies as a decent landing.

Good job well done.

maybe this would explain a bit.

https://youtu.be/lP35ULU6IcQ

https://youtu.be/SHJuFsp_w8I

The Belfast Telegraph site has been updated with a video showing the landing.

2.1 G is not a hard landing. G meters can not determine a landing force. The meters get jarred just like dropping a clock so show erroneous readings. The only way to measure a landing is by the rate of descent at touch down. From memory only, the CS25 minimum standard is 650'/min and most a/c are certified to 850'/min which means you can fly the ILS straight into the runway without any flare at all and still not do a heavy landing. approx 750'/min equate to 3g in your terms.

The main cause of heavy landings is people flaring, floating then loosing lift and dropping like a stone. Bad technique. If you flare and let it settle you will never ever do a hard landing in your life.

The G reading recorded on a TP is a normalised value with a combination of aircraft weight and deceleration in the Z axis. Which then spits out a value which can be graded by the gingers.

Having been on a Q400 when its done a normalised 1.8g landing it hit very very hard.

BTW I agree with MM its usually people prolonging the flare and trying to do a greaser which is when they occur. The aircraft runs out of energy and drops out the sky.

Sweet soft touchdown. Some of those DASH 8s are getting old now but those high wing engines at least guarantee no bent props with nose gear failure. Well done. She should be flying again in no time.