View Full Version : Virgin A340..........wheels down?
Flybywyre
10th Nov 2002, 11:07
On my way into work (LATCC) yesterday (Saturday 9th), driving down the M4 I noticed a Virgin A340 west of Windsor still with its wheels down, it would have been airborne off LL at around 1335. A few other colleagues also noticed it and one said it was still like that at WOD. Further enquiries at work revealed it wasn't a go around or any type of emergency.
General consensus of opinion say's that this was probably in order to cool the braking system down due to a lot of stop/start taxing.
Any drivers out there care to give us the definitive answer?
Thanks in advance
FBW
fatboy slim
10th Nov 2002, 12:49
Yep - the drill for a brake overheat caution in flight for my type (not A340) is to drop the wheels for a spot of 'air assisted cooling'. Does sound a plausible explanation.
HEATHROW DIRECTOR
10th Nov 2002, 14:30
Back in the Golden Days I was the Tower controller at Heathrow when an Air France Airbus did the same thing. I watched it for a while and then told the pilot that his wheels were down. "Affirmative; we used zem for zee take off".
Many people have claimed that story, but it really was me!!!
hobie
10th Nov 2002, 17:56
HD ..... have listened to the same conversation between the Tower and a departing aircraft but without such an exotic response ...... whats the official ATC view? ...... do you just ignore the situation or ask a question?
cheers ....
HEATHROW DIRECTOR
10th Nov 2002, 18:18
Hobie.... after my exchange reported above I ignored all subsequent similar events.
Flybywyre
10th Nov 2002, 21:25
I did speak to the tower once I got to work. They said the AC had informed them that it was going to leave the U/C down but had not given any reason.
FBW
PAXboy
11th Nov 2002, 09:29
Returning from MBJ on a BA 744 some years ago, the flight hopped to KIN before turning North.
Cpt apologised for the extra noise on the hop, due to leaving gear down for the whole sector (20 mins). The temp on the ground had contributed to the high braketemperature and, of course, he was going to need them again fair soon.
Hand Solo
13th Nov 2002, 01:21
On the A320 a failure of a wheel tacheometer will prevent the wheel being automatically braked when the gear is selected up. As a result the procedure is to leave the gear down for a stated period in order to allow the wheels to stop spinning before they're retracted. I wouldn't be surprised if the same is true for the A340. A brake overheat is possible but I think unlikely as that would have triggered an ECAM warning to delay take off for brake cooling.
Localiser Green
13th Nov 2002, 17:14
Yeah I think Hand Solo might have it here, if the brake temperature was that high the aircraft wouldn't be able to take off would it? Recall a max brake temp of 200C for the A320 family off the top of my head as the maximum for takeoff.
Something to do with "max brake energy"? (thinking back to the ATPLs).
-
hobie
14th Nov 2002, 17:51
I remember some years ago an Aer Lingus 747 advising the tower that its wheels would remain down to cool the brakes ....... this was a flight leaving SNN for Dublin ....... now I know that Shannon has a nice long runway but how the heck did the brakes get so hot on taxi to line-up?
I think the 747 fleet was all "100" models and sold off in 1994? to be replaced by 330's ......
http://airlines.afriqonline.com/images/px5118.jpg
cheers .......
Last year on a visit to Legoland, Windsor, whilst queing up to go in, I watched a Concorde do it for ages after departing Heathrow.(Must have been around 1020ish) He stayed low and slow and kept it like that for miles until out of sight. Always wondered why he did that....... :)
no sponsor
19th Nov 2002, 09:57
I've seen it on a UA 744 dep LHR last year, where the wheels were down for as long as I could see him, certainly beyond WOD. Leaving Sydney on a 744 some months ago, the same thing happened, and the explanation was due to a defective facitlity to stop the wheels spinning prior to stowage - the engineers advised a 2 min wait before gear up to allow the wheels to stop spinning.
Mariner9
20th Nov 2002, 15:13
Sorry if this is a stupid question guys, but couldn't the flight crew have just stepped on the brakes to stop the wheels spinning? :confused:
Mariner9,
Based on my knowledge of Boeings, the answer is NO. The aircraft is allowed to depart with one or two brakes deactivated with brake lines capped off or removed. In this case there is no residual pressure to stop the wheels turning, hence the requirement to leave the gear down for two minutes.
I would guess that the Airbus has a similiar facility.
Mutt