La Guardia Nose Gear Collapse

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No Joy

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7-22-2013 Southwest Airline Boeing 737

While I'm highly skeptical of alleged eyewitness accounts reported by the media. I can't help but wonder if there might be some truth. I wonder if there could be a connection to the landing gear failure.

Wild speculation:
Perhaps a tire blew or otherwise malfunctioned compromising the landing gear systems? Perhaps technicians missed or inadvertently caused a problem?

The flight was delayed leaving Nashville. Passengers heard an announcement saying "something was wrong with a tire"
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/23/southwest-laguardia-airport_n_3637609.html

Latest claims are there were some injuries. I would suspect that they would probably be minor, though I doubt that wouldn't stop ambulance chasers from trying to milk it.
 
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Headlines here: "Hard Landing causes gear collapse"....
 
wsuffa said:
Headlines here: "Hard Landing causes gear collapse"....
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Supposedly there was a video taken and posted that showed the airplane landing and it appeared to touchdown nose wheel first. Not sure how accurate that info is - The link to the video has since been removed.
 
[SPECULATION]

The onboard cell-phone video linked above seems to show a flat descent to the runway with essentially no flare, producing a very hard landing.

[/SPECULATION]
 
So you suppose the pilot that was fired from Asiana airlines at SFO got a job with Southwest?
 
Sac Arrow said:
So you suppose the pilot that was fired from Asiana airlines at SFO got a job with Southwest?
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Asiana Pilots don't taxi fast enough to get a job with southwest. But keep in mind SW is everybody's little darling. Heaven forbid anyone should criticize the number one carrier for tractor-pull shows and monster truck rallies.
 
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Re: Update & Photo

MAKG1 said:
You can tell without a close inspection of the break? I can't.

Metal fatigue is not the only thing that could cause this.
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I can’t tell with the photo I’ve seen. That’s why I put forth the fatigue hypothesis as a question.

There are some areas that look shiny, like a semicircular seashell that I’ve often seen around fatigue cracks. However at this resolution, it could be just a finished machined surface, or polished from wear.

The majority of area that appears to be a break, looks like it has been torn apart from overload.

There also seems to be considerable corrosion in other areas.

So the photo that I have seen, could be interpreted many ways. At this time at this resolution, I think the photo could support several hypothesis.
 
Other photos look like they all evacuated from the rear, but here you can see a slide in the front. I wonder if it was inflated for passenger evacuation, or much later when they were doing the investigation.

nyc-nose-gear-collapse.jpeg8.jpg
 
Being New York I bet those guys got a parking ticket too ! "Hey buddy, you can't park that there".
 
wsuffa said:
Booted and towed is more like it....
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Looking at the pic... I assumed some gang members stole the wheels and tires off of it,,, and then some hoodies came along and stole the cement blocks that where holding it up..:lol::rofl::eek:
 
NoHeat said:
Other photos look like they all evacuated from the rear, but here you can see a slide in the front. I wonder if it was inflated for passenger evacuation, or much later when they were doing the investigation.

nyc-nose-gear-collapse.jpeg8.jpg
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Most definitely inflated after....or at least much later in the evac.

Here is a photo of the evac in progress...note forward door on that side still closed:
SOUTHWEST-2.jpg
 
Fearless Tower said:
SOUTHWEST-2.jpg
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Note the person that probably was a passenger, appears to be carrying items.

Seems that person puts a higher value on their own belongings, then the lives of other passengers that have not egressed yet.

It's déjà vu to see such selfishness that could have resulted in fatalities if the aircraft caught on fire. The public has not learned from those that were horribly burned after the Asiana Airlines crash at SFO.
 
I wonder who makes the decision on which ones and how many slides are deployed during an evac ?:dunno:..

Seems the front one had less of a drop and would have been safer since all the injuries inflicted in this incident were caused by the slide egress..
 
N801BH said:
I wonder who makes the decision on which ones and how many slides are deployed during an evac ?:dunno:..

Seems the front one had less of a drop and would have been safer since all the injuries inflicted in this incident were caused by the slide egress..
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We don't know what the inside of the plane was like. Normally everyone crams to the front of the plane when it's close to getting out time. The front may have been impassable.
 
MAKG1 said:
Whoever opens the doors. I really doubt it's limited to flight attendants.
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I almost always get the emergency exit rows and you can bet your a$$ I will have my door open before the plane stops moving...:yes:;)
 
N801BH said:
I almost always get the emergency exit rows and you can bet your a$$ I will have my door open before the plane stops moving...:yes:;)
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On the newer 737s I seem to recall a speed sensitive flight lock on those doors. I can't recall the exact value but you'd at least have to wait for that to occur before you could open them.
 
Art VanDelay said:
On the newer 737s I seem to recall a speed sensitive flight lock on those doors. I can't recall the exact value but you'd at least have to wait for that to occur before you could open them.
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I can do that.............. And not a second more...
 
N801BH said:
I can do that.............. And not a second more...
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The nice thing about the new doors is that they're gull wing style - hinged at the top so they just pop open. Unlike the old plug style ones that you had to pull inside and set down on the seat while the entire rest of the pax are trying to trample you.
 
Art VanDelay said:
The nice thing about the new doors is that they're gull wing style - hinged at the top so they just pop open. Unlike the old plug style ones that you had to pull inside and set down on the seat while the entire rest of the pax are trying to trample you.
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Wow. I didn't know that.
 
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