737-200 nose gear question.
 

Does anyone know what is attached to the nose wheel of this 737-200.


http://img.planespotters.net/photo/3...Net_334070.jpg

It's the nose gear gravel deflector used for unpaved runways. The link below will give you the detailed info

Unpaved Strip Kit

Gravel Kit
 

This is a gravel deflector kit which will allow the aircraft to operate from unimproved airstrips. The plate, made from fiberglass coated plywood, keeps gravel from being sprayed back into the engine intakes. There is a different gear extend/ extended speed (which I've long forgotten).

There is another kit that is made up of two stainless steel booms that extend from the underside of each engine. These are vortex dissipators. Bleed air is tapped off and the air is literally blown onto the ground just under each engine intake. This has the affect of negating any vortices created by the engines which then protects the ingestion of any rocks, sand or debris into the inlets.

With the gravel kit in operation, the resulting EPR penalty was only something like 0.01 EPR.

Good one
 

Good reference, JT!

Many thanks for the replies most informative.