Aircraft 1st flights!
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2005
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From: AUSTRALIA
Aircraft 1st flights!
Maybe a stupid and obvious questions but when companies (Boeing, Airbus, etc) conduct their FIRST flight of a new type why do they keep the gear down and then retract it maybe 1 hour into the flight?
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,188
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From: La Belle Province
To first make sure nothing else is wrong that might impede lowering the gear.
There's also a bunch of handling assessments with the gear down, since if the aircraft, for whatever reason, handles like a pig gear down, you want to know about it as soon as you can, since gear down flight is required on every flight; gear up is optional.
There's also a bunch of handling assessments with the gear down, since if the aircraft, for whatever reason, handles like a pig gear down, you want to know about it as soon as you can, since gear down flight is required on every flight; gear up is optional.
Joined: Feb 2005
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From: flyover country USA
Hmmm - interesting point.
But I'd think that water-handling characteristics would be a very early priority, because rectification of hull design is a bit more complex than shimming the undercarriage.
But I'd think that water-handling characteristics would be a very early priority, because rectification of hull design is a bit more complex than shimming the undercarriage.
