744 nose job...
 

Okay, I know I'm out of my "hood" here, but I'm curious about the photo below &, well, why not go to the source...

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a40...r/DSC00966.jpg

I've never seen an aircraft jacked like this & was wondering if some of you clever chaps could illuminate a fellow who doesn't know which end of a spanner has the best effect! How can they set it up like this without damaging the airframe??:confused:

(with apologies to Ratty on Freight Dogs...):ok:

Obviously some major repairs going on there! That jacking kit is used by the Boeing repair team to keep the structure correctly jigged whilst multiple skins and frames are removed/repaired. Looking at the rippling twas either a heavy landing or gear selected up without the nose pin fitted:ugh:

Twas the latter gas path. (More info on Freight Dogs.) So, there's obviously a prescribed way of lifting it through the upper deck windows, I'm wondering whether the airframe is built to support such work, or is there other fittings internally that take the load?

Prolly the latter. They need to distribute the support stresses over a good-size area of the skin, so I'd wager there's a form-fitting bulkhead segment atop each I-beam inside the fuselage. Clever approach to the support problem! :cool:

http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/open.file/1000795/L

M

I've seen this jacking method before on an Air France -400 that ran off the side of the runway and into the water resulting in similar damage.
It was the one where the pax evacuated under a running engine as the MEC was flodded before they could shut the engine down.

Boeing AOG Team
 

As far as the jacking is concerned any member of the Boeing AOG team might be able to shead some light on the subject. This type of jacking is very common when abnormal flight or ground conditions have occured ie hard landing or gear selected up when on the ground.

Great pic Buster. Any more?

XPMorten's link has a few on !!!!!!!!!!!!!! & the original thread is on Freight Dogs.:ok:

SMOC how was what you saw (AF 744) supported internally?:confused:

If I remember correctly the floorbeams of both the main deck and upper deck are attached to the I beams going through the windows by a vertical framework obviously inside. It's just holding the structure in place so the lower section 41 can be replaced without the structure changing shape.

Thanks SMOC. It all makes sense why & how, but when you see the above for the first time, it really piques ones interest!:ok:

The Lufthansa 747-200F that wiped all its landing gear out during a high speed max weight aborted take off on runway 13 at Kai Tak Hong Kong in the early 80's was trestled in much the same way with beams through the cockpit side windows and upper deck windows. Also, in this case, because of the extensive belly damage the nose door itself was opened and supported on a scaffolding platform. Basically the whole belly was cut off about 12 inches below the floor beams and new prefabricated sections made by Boeing were spliced in. A lot of support was needed to maintain fuselage alignment while all thse pieces were cut out. HAECO had an interesting video of the recovery and repair.

Another example of the jacking configuration I believe was the Qantas 747-400 that ended up in the golf course in Hong Kong. Does anyone have pics of that?

I think you may find it was Don Muang International Airport, Bankok.