Eastern Airways J31 @ ABZ
 

Hi there

Just been watching the Scottish BBC news and they've reported that an Eastern J31 has put out a mayday and is in the hold above ABZ due to some sort of hydraulic failures. ABZ now closed.

In and out of ABZ a lot and see these guys zipping in and out, and well, working harder than me anyway. Anyone heard how they are getting on or even whether they've landed safely yet?

News left off by saying that they were circling, trying to work out what to do next?!

Not rubberneckin', just concerned.

Cheers

CA

From the BBC website....
 

Plane makes emergency landing

An inquiry has been launched after a plane with 12 people on board was forced to make an emergency landing at Aberdeen Airport.
The Eastern Airways Jetstream 32 had just taken off for Newcastle when the pilot reported a hydraulic problem.

An airline spokeswoman said the front undercarriage had failed to retract completely.

A full emergency was declared while the three crew and nine passengers circled Aberdeen for an hour before landing at 1345 BST.

The airline was arranging for another aircraft to fly the passengers to Newcastle.

DROGNA,

Cheers for that, glad to hear they're all down safely.

Well done to the crew.

CA

Ah, the new castoring nosewheel J32! Interesting pic. Glad all turned out OK.:D

....ahhhhhhh I remember the days when I used to fly Grumman AA5's, pure luxury (said in a stong yorkshire accent)

Wot a picture! Glad the nosewheel straightened on touchdown.

As an aside, anyone know how the nosewheel ended up in that state? The news reports say that there were numerous hydraulic failures. What sort of failure causes the nosewheel to align 90 degrees off centre?

CA

The J31 does have a fully castoring nosewheel with hydraulic control of the nosewheel 35 degrees either side of centre, if I remember the figures correctly. On nosewheel retraction hydraulic pressure is ported to either side of the steering jack to centre the nosewheel. When reversing the aircraft you had to be a little circumspect about steering the aircraft cos if you went outside the steering range it could get a little difficult getting it back into the correct area.

I will leave you to ponder what hydraulic failures would cause the centering system to foul up. [If this was the cause.]

PS its 17 years since I last flew one of these so the figures are probably wrong!:E

I have 3,000 hours in the j32 flying on a UAL express contract and have never ever seen a j32 that shiny... with tinted windows too...wow! Those pilots must be proud.

Nice job Eastern!

BBB