Hydraulic Failure BA0943 12-07-06

[cjt105]

Hi All,

I was a passenger on board the BA0943 Dusseldorf - LHR yesterday. As we came in to land, at about 100 ft, the pilot suddenly aborted the landing, and headed straight up again. We cut straight across the route of other ac taking off, causing another aircraft to roll through almost 90 degrees to avoid us. I'd estimate it's distance as no more than 500m from us. The incident was witnessed by a number of people omn the ground, waiting at the T1 drop off area. Turned out our aircraft (A320) had lost hydraulics, and the landing gear hadn't locked. :uhoh:

Plane headed out over the English Channel to use up fuel. The pilot appeared to have no rudder control, since all manouvers were made through rolling, and the pilot informed us that he had no brakes either. After preparing us for an emergancy landing, the plane managed to land back at LHR.

Was suprised not to have read anything in the media - so was anybody onboard the craft which had to manouver so violently to avoid us? What would have happened if we couldn't have locked the landing gear? :eek:

[ALLDAYDELI]

what time was this? I saw a lot of fire brigade & Police activity around the southside/T4 Hilton around 1845 local.

[cjt105]

Yeah spot on, about 1845 BST

[Doors to Automatic]

Why did the aircraft dump fuel? It was surely below Max landing weight already as it was coming into land!???

[ALLDAYDELI]

There was an attack helicopter in the vicinity abeam Bedfont at the same time. That suddenly short north at the same time in a Northolt direction. Not sure if it was a Apache or Eurocopter Tiger,, it looked vicious. Sounds odd as your a/c would cut across the path of a departing a/c. That is serious.

[ratarsedagain]

Why did the aircraft dump fuel?
It wouldn't have. A320 can't dump fuel.
Would've just been running through checklists and preparing for an abnormal landing.

[farsouth]

Original post didn't say it dumped fuel - it said it went off to use up fuel. Guess the lighter the better if landing with a hydraulic/brakeproblem???

[Bus429]

Loss of one hydraulic system would not cause loss of rudder control

[FlyingSpanner]

On the A320 as woth other Airbus products all 3 hydraulic systems power the rudder and the loss on one puts that system servo into "damped mode"

Spanner :ok:

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<As we came in to land, at about 100 ft, the pilot suddenly aborted the landing, and headed straight up again. We cut straight across the route of other ac taking off, causing another aircraft to roll through almost 90 degrees to avoid us. I'd estimate it's distance as no more than 500m from us.>>

This sounds a bit sensationalist! Any Heathrow Tower ATCOs about???

[ratarsedagain]

Original post didn't say it dumped fuel
Wasn't quoting the original post, look at 'doors to automatics' post 2 above my previous.
Also agree with 'heathrow directors' post above.
If they'd had a gear problem they were aware of, it's highly unlikely they'd have left it to 100' before deciding to go around:=
Perhaps they had to go around for traffic on the runway, and subsequently suffered a hydraulic failure?
As to the proximity of the other aircraft on the G/A, it's nigh on impossible as a passenger to judge the proximity of other aircraft, especially when one or both aircraft are turning.

[Cuillin]

And here is the end result!

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1074089&WxsIERv=Nveohf%20N320-211&Wm=0&WdsYXMg=Oevgvfu%20Nvejnlf&QtODMg=Ybaqba%20-%20Urnguebj%20%28YUE%20%2F%20RTYY%29&ERDLTkt=HX%20-%20Ratynaq&ktODMp=Whyl%2012%2C%202006&BP=0&WNEb25u=Uneev%20Xbfxvara&xsIERvdWdsY=T-OHFT&MgTUQtODMgKE=Syvtug%20ON943%20vf%20ba%20fubeg%20svany%20sbe% 20na%20rzretrapl%20ynaqvat%20gb%20ehajnl%2027Y%20nsgre%20uni vat%20rapbhagrerq%20ulqenhyvp%20ceboyrzf.%20Abgr%20gung%20ny y%20ynaqvat%20trne%20onl%20qbbef%20ner%20unatvat%20qbja.%20Y hpxvyl%20gur%20ynaqvat%20jrag%20jryy.%20%5BAvxba%20Q200%5D&YXMgTUQtODMgKERD=45&NEb25uZWxs=2006-07-13&ODJ9dvCE=&O89Dcjdg=039&static=yes&width=1024&height=695&sok=%20BEQRE%20OL%20cubgb_vq%20QRFP&photo_nr=1&prev_id=&next_id=1074029&tbl=ACCIDENT

[glhcarl]

Why would loss hydraulic power keep the gear from locking down? How did they even get the main gear doors open and the nose gear unlocked with without hydraulic power (emergancy gear release)? Something does not make sense to me.

[vapilot2004]

Why would loss hydraulic power keep the gear from locking down?

It wouldn't. Locking is assisted by springs on the MLG and aerodynamic forces on the NLG.

How did they even get the main gear doors open and the nose gear unlocked with without hydraulic power (emergancy gear release)? Something does not make sense to me.

In the event of green (L) system loss, there is a hand crank located on the center pedestal to operate the gear. This event must have been a fluid leak as this aircraft has a PTU to transfer power from the yellow (R) system should the L engine pump fail.

[anartificialhorizon]

Green hydraulics required to lock gear down via Lock Stay Actuator !

Springs just a back up .

With free fall extension and therefore with NLG doors open for landing it is my understanding that the NWS disabled........

Probably this would be of biggest concern although if ,as has been proven with many cases of the NLG Wheels pointing off centre during landing, should not present such a big problem .................:)

[Plastic Bug]

Actually kids, the gear is locked down mechanically. How it gets unlocked to drop is another story. There's no "crank" in the 320, it's a switch which drives the uplocks to open and gravity does all the work when you lose hydraulics. Normally, all is done via the gear lever which commands a bunch of electro mechanical stuff, gear doors open, uplocks to unlock, gear actuator to extend. When the hydraulics are not there, electric motors unlock all of the locks, gravity and wind does the work and the springs seal the deal.

That's why gear generally extend fore to aft

I have no idea why they didn't notice the unsafe gear at 100 feet. If you had three green at a hundred and suddenly one went red, what would you do?

PB

[3Greens]

Nothing more than sensationalist crap. :ugh:
If you look at the GA procedures for LHR then you will see some of them do turn accross the SIDs'- Standard GA procedures seem to have been followed. How can you judge that an aircraft had to turn through 90degress for avoidance from the cabin??
Many things in your story smack of passenger ignorance and jumpimg to conclusions regarding what is actually taking place in the flight deck and what you are actually being told/second guessing.
For instance, how xan you judge 5oo' separation from the cabin? i have been a pilot for 10 years+ and i reckon i couldn't be that accurate...
I would hazard i guess that the aircraft didn't head out over the channel to use up fuel as you say, but merely was vectored clear of the London TMA in order to complete the checklist.
Oh and don't get me started on that nonsense about losing the rudder and having to maneouvre by rolling only!!!! Eh???

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<If you look at the GA procedures for LHR then you will see some of them do turn accross the T/off runway>>

That comes as a major surpise to me..... but things change rapidly in aviation! I would just say that the published go-around procs are often changed bt ATC to provide separation.

[3Greens]

Whoops meant to say SIDs not the departure runway. Post edited...
i'm sure this is what happened in the original post i.e. a/c inbound on
27L goes around and there is an A/c on a Dover SID from 27R.

[southern duel]

Just to confirm

There was a full emergency declared on the BA943 with " Hydraulic Problems".
Aircraft landed without incident at 19:06 Local and taxied to stand.

Another normal day in the busy world of Heathrow Ops.

[anartificialhorizon]

Well said 3 Greens.....quite an appropriate handle you have for this thread !:ok:

It may be that the original author is getting confused with the fact that the incident aircraft made a 90deg turn which may or may not have crossed the departure runway flight path......How you can judge distance , heading , attitude from the pax cabin is beyond me!

As for Alldaydelis remarks regarding "that being serious "..............:rolleyes: and a helicopter holding at Bedfont..........another newsworthy item :D

[TURIN]

Love the note on the airliners.net photo...."Luckily the landing went well. " Nothing to do with good training, procedures followed to the letter (ATC Pilots etc), a/c back-up system design well engineered.

Nope, it's definately all down to the throw of the dice!:yuk:

[Gonzo]

Ridiculous.

There was more than 1000 feet vertical separation at all times, and never less than 1.5 miles laterally. The go around was extremely well handled by both Arrivals and Departures controllers.

The departing aircraft was following the standard DVR departure, it did not...

roll through almost 90 degrees to avoid

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Thanks Gonzo. It's as I suspected - more rubbish!

[Red Top Comanche]

Guys

I was on an Easyjet A319 going into Toulouse one mornng when we had a similar problem.

Pilot went around from about 100 feet, big curcuit and then landed again with flaps at max plus flull complement of blue lights following us down the runway.

Captain said after the nose gear hadn't locked.

We were towed to the stand. Scared a few bods but seemed to be handled well.

Does this happen often

RTC :D :D

[vapilot2004]

Actually kids, the gear is locked down mechanically. How it gets unlocked to drop is another story. There's no "crank" in the 320, it's a switch which drives the uplocks to open and gravity does all the work when you lose hydraulics. Normally, all is done via the gear lever which commands a bunch of electro mechanical stuff, gear doors open, uplocks to unlock, gear actuator to extend. When the hydraulics are not there, electric motors unlock all of the locks, gravity and wind does the work and the springs seal the deal.

That's why gear generally extend fore to aft

I have no idea why they didn't notice the unsafe gear at 100 feet. If you had three green at a hundred and suddenly one went red, what would you do?

PB

Airbus does indeed refer to the emergency extension actuator as a crank. This crank, which requires a turn of about 3 will:

Isolate the LDG gear hydraulics from the green system
Unlock the doors
Open the uplock pressure to allow the gear to free fall into the down position.

PB, the emerg extension crank handle does not operate a mechanism that will directly actuate the landing gear - perhaps this is what you were trying to intimate in your post.

[hakoskin]

I found this thread, when I studied the links to my photos at airliners.net.

Love the note on the airliners.net photo...."Luckily the landing went well. " Nothing to do with good training, procedures followed to the letter (ATC Pilots etc), a/c back-up system design well engineered.

Nope, it's definately all down to the throw of the dice!:yuk:
Please remember that we all are not native English speakers! With the note I meant that there was no damage, injuries or loss of lifes.

I would like also to add that the go-around was NOT done at 100 feet, but about two miles from the threshold, when the aircraft was considerably higher.