TravelService 738 Grounded at Lajes
 

Portuguese Islands WX could really be very naughty during winter times....after a JET2 738 @ Madeira, now its the time for a TVS 738 at Lajes-Terceira Island(Azores)...on the weekly regular tech stop, it landed hard with the nose gear...as we can see on the pic there are some nasty "deformations" on the near nose-gear fuselage, and the gear itself.

Could this be easy to fix on these conditions?

View image: OK TVT

Prague-Montego Bay in a 737. Ouf

Hopefully just the skin that is deformed…..It always makes me wonder how the numbers add up for those airlines that utilise small aircraft long haul. Business class only such as Privat Air and the like have proved to be viable, but economy ??? As SSK said in 3 letters, it must've been cosy for 9hrs or so.



SHJ

I imagine that it can't be any worse than longhaul Y cabins in many of the larger jets.

It doesn't look so bad to me, but then again neither did the damage to the BA 747 at ORT, and that is apparently being written off. But I am no expert in airframe damage, so I guess we will just have to wait and see what the experts say.


How did they land on their nose gear anyway? Did they forget to flare?

The crosswinds at Lajes are somewhat notorious and I'd guess that as they approached a side gust and or downdraft caused instability in the flare and the front wheel touched first momentarily before the main gear. Whatever, it must have been very stressful for the pilots and scary for the passengers.



SHJ

My only landing at Lajes was in a DC6 :):)
They always used to come down nose first.

Any deformation of the skin like that shows underlying damage to the structure...the frames and intercostals.

Repair certainly ......... problematical due to location of the aircraft.
I've been to that airport to rescue a diverted 777....we had 40kts wind and horizontal rain, cloudbase 500 feet....not nice conditions to work in. The USAF have some hangarage there.

Boeing AOG repair team would be quickest option to get it flying again...albiet not the cheapest option.

Quote... Any deformation of the skin like that shows underlying damage to the structure...the frames and intercostals.


Fortunately that area of the plane is only stressed during taxi and landing... I suppose it should be able to fly Ok.

I guessing that your are not an Engineer or Pilot then ? :(


The aircraft will be inspected with reference to the SRM ( Structural Repair Manual ) which has all the details of any allowable damage....outside of this very tightly controlled allowance, you must action a repair . It is very clear from the photo that considerable deformation has taken place in and around the Nose Landing Gear support trunnions.