Nose Gear Up Landing at KORD

[ScottM]

Disabled jet makes safe landing at O’Hare


By Jason Meisner
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 20, 2006, 7:53 AM CDT

No injuries were reported this morning after a disabled American Airlines jet made a safe emergency landing at O'Hare International Airport.

The pilot of American Airlines Flight 1740, which originated from Los Angeles, notified the O'Hare control tower at about 6:15 a.m. that the plane had no working nose gear, Chicago Aviation Department spokeswoman Kristen Cabanban said.

There were 131 passengers and five Chicago-based crew members on board the plane, said John Hotard, a spokesman for American Airlines. Hotard said upon approach to O'Hare, the plane first flew by the tower for a visual inspection.

"There was a flyby in which they passed the tower, but the tower could not confirm whether the nose gear was down," Hotard said.

The Chicago Fire Department instituted a standby response calling five ambulances to the scene and surrounding the runway with emergency equipment, fire Chief Kevin MacGregor said. He said officials confirmed the plane would have to land without its nose gear but decided not to put flame-retardant foam on the runway.

"A foam blanket can make the runway more difficult and slippery to control the landing," MacGregor said.

The plane was able to land safely at about 6:28 a.m. on runway 14-Right, Cabanban said. She said sparks shot up from the metal nose of the plane making contact with the runway, but there was no fire.

"It was an excellent job by the pilot to land that plane," Cabanban said. "All of the passengers were able to deplane the aircraft via the stairs."

MacGregor said paramedics checked the passengers at the scene but no injuries were reported. They were loaded onto a bus and taxied to a terminal, he said. The scene was secured shortly before 7 a.m., he said.

Cabanban said the plane would remain on the runway at its resting point while American Airlines officials inspected the aircraft and investigated the incident. She had no further information on what went wrong with the plane's landing gear.

The runway will remain "inactive" while the investigation continues, she said.

Tribune staff reporter Charles Sheehan contributed to this report.

 

[ScottM]

More on yesterday's nose gear failure, not the first for the aircraft

chicagotribune.com >> Local news Landing was smooth, but nerves frayed

Nose gear on American Airlines jet also failed 6 months ago

By Charles Sheehan, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Virginia Groark contributed to this report
Published June 21, 2006

An American Airlines jet that touched down without its front landing gear and skidded to a halt Tuesday at O'Hare International Airport made an unscheduled stop six months ago in Chicago when the landing gear would not retract, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

The pilot of American Airlines Flight 1740, inbound from Los Angeles, aborted a landing just before touchdown early Tuesday. After circling the airport for about 45 minutes, the aircraft landed with its nose on the runway, leaving a trail of sparks and smoke.

There were no injuries among the plane's 136 passengers and crew, officials said. The incident caused few delays at O'Hare. Federal investigators began inspecting the landing gear Tuesday.

"We are going to examine the aircraft and the runway, interview crew members, maybe pull the flight records if necessary," said National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Paul Schlamm.

Mechanics at O'Hare replaced the nose landing gear strut seals and did work on the strut assembly Dec. 19 when the landing gear failed to retract after takeoff, according to FAA records.

The landing gear that failed to activate Tuesday was about halfway to its next major inspection, said airline spokesman Mary Frances Fagan.

Mechanics do light inspections of the landing gear every day, however, to ensure it is functioning properly, she said.

Fagan could not be reached late Tuesday for comment on the jet's unscheduled stop last year in Chicago. But the two nose landing gear failures are probably not related, said John Goglia, a professor of aviation science at St. Louis University, who was a member of the National Transportation Safety Board for almost 10 years. He added that modern aircraft are made to withstand a landing like Tuesday's.

"These airplanes were designed to land with their nose gear up," he said. "You'll see a lot of sparks and some metal will grind away, but they were designed so that a landing like that will not destroy the airplane."

All appeared normal as Flight 1740 neared the runway a few minutes earlier than scheduled. But just before landing, the engines powered up, the aircraft banked and it began to climb again, passengers said.

"I turned around to the [flight attendant] in the jump seat next to me and I said to her, `Is that normal?' and she said, "Everything is going to be fine, everything is going to be fine,'" said Jonathan Lurie, an attorney from Los Angeles. "That's when I knew everything was not fine."

Passengers said there were no signs of panic aboard the MD-80, but it was a very tense 45 minutes over O'Hare as the pilot attempted to jar the landing gear loose. The pilot, who has not been identified, told passengers over the intercom soon after the aborted landing that the nose landing gear may have malfunctioned.

He notified traffic control officials and did a flyby past the control tower, which confirmed that the landing gear was "not down and not locked," Fagan said.

The flight crew then told passengers that the pilot would attempt a negative G maneuver, in hopes of dislodging the landing gear, said Alissa Rizzo, who was returning with her husband, Joe, from a honeymoon in Bora Bora.

As the plane dipped and then climbed rapidly, it "felt like we were riding a roller coaster," she said.

Sandy Marschinke, returning from a Hawaiian cruise, said the flight attendants were right when they warned passengers that "you'll feel something you've probably never felt before."

"It felt like we were going straight up and then we were going straight down," she said. "I'm sure that's not the case, but it was quite a ride."

After it was clear the maneuver failed to dislodge the landing gear, passengers were told to place their heads down and assume the crash position for landing.

Lurie, who was to deliver a lecture on estate planning Tuesday afternoon, said he began to consider the loose ends in his own life.

"I'm married with two kids and I started thinking about how they would manage," Lurie said. "You have a lot of interesting thoughts in that situation."

After the rear wheels touched down, passengers said they felt a slight shudder throughout the plane as the plane's belly slid along the runway.

Emergency vehicles that had lined the runway were at the door when it came to a stop, they said.

No foam was used on the runway, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

"It really was one of the best, at least the smoothest, landings, we ever felt," said Alissa Rizzo, 27. "I expected it to be a lot worse. All of us did."

Passengers praised the pilot's skills. Airline officials said he has about 17 years of experience.

When the aircraft came to a halt in the middle of the runway, the sound of cell phones powering up came in waves up and down the cabin, Rizzo said.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators will pore over collected data; a report on the landing could be posted on the agency's Web site within 10 days, Schlamm said.

 

[Greg Bockelman]

According to an American Pilot I met last night, it was an ex TWA airplane. Not that that matters.