What would you have done on EA401?

[flyboy410]

Some of you might be knowing something about Eastern Airlines flight 401 that crashed in the Everglades due to the crew that were distracted by a dysfunctional nose gear light not noticing that the aircraft was steadily descending towards the swamps.

Assume that you were the PIC on that flight and things had not gone wrong. The aircraft remained at 2000 ft. What would you have done?

I would have done a pass over the runway with the gear out and have airport ground crew inform us about the status of the nose gear. If the gear were to be out, I'd have gone 'round and come back 'round to pull of a smooth landing and to be on the safe side I would've had the ground emergency crew on standby.

What would you have done?

[what next]

What would you have done?

If would have been among the crew of that flight I would probably have done what they did: Crashed into the swamps.

Now, 40 years later, I would know better and do exactly what the abnormal checklist for landing gear malfunctions tells me to do. With the pilot flying monitoring the autopilot and instruments all the time.

[Piltdown Man]

I would have done a pass over the runway with the gear out and have airport ground crew inform us about the status of the nose gear. If the gear were to be out, I'd have gone 'round and come back 'round to pull of a smooth landing and to be on the safe side I would've had the ground emergency crew on standby.

What does the checklist say? And does gear out = down and locked? Can you guarantee a smooth landing every flight? And who exactly are the ground emergency crew?

[604guy]

I would have done a pass over the runway with the gear out and have airport ground crew inform us about the status of the nose gear

And what exactly would you have been hoping to accomplish in the dark?

[sevenstrokeroll]

good job 604guy! I was just going to write the same thing....and if the problem had happened in DAY VMC conditions, someone would have noticed the ap loss by periphreal vision

[flyboy410]

What does the checklist say? And does gear out = down and locked? Can you guarantee a smooth landing every flight? And who exactly are the ground emergency crew?

By gear out I mean whatever gear was working properly. In this case, the MLG.
Can't guarantee a smooth landing but can definitely try. As for the ground
emergency crew, I am referring to the fire trucks, medics, etc.

And what exactly would you have been hoping to accomplish in the dark?

I infer that the airport lights in those days weren't good enough...what a pity.

Thank you for your replies gentlemen but I still await answers as to what you
would have done...

[Lord Spandex Masher]

I would have done a pass over the runway with the gear out and have airport ground crew inform us about the status of the nose gear.

Written out of the rules in my last company. Rightly so, how much do you think the ground crew can see of the complicated machinery that is the landing gear going past at a few hundred feet and a couple of hundred knots even if it was day light and how accurately can they see of something is misaligned by maybe an inch, or whatever?

Did the have secondary indications for the gear?

[White Knight]

My current airline (and my previous one) does NOT permit a fly-by for gear inspection. Rightly so as no-one on the ground can see if the darn thing will be downlocked!