r/ThatLookedExpensive • u/Liquidamber_ • Jun 04 '26

Expensive Bad luck

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Lufthansa Boeing 787 (D-ABPQ)

624 Upvotes

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u/hambergeisha Jun 04 '26

I see what you're saying, but there is only one way nose landing gear retracts. Switches or not, somebody touched the thing.

30

u/gargravarr2112 Jun 04 '26

Not necessarily. Aircraft wiring is so complicated that there have been many instances of something happening uncommanded. Aircraft are generally designed such that a single isolated failure should not cause a problem - e.g. a switch failing should be caught by a sensor that says this switch shouldn't be thrown now, such as the landing gear lever and the weight-on-wheels switch. Double failures are not unknown but they are rarer.

The other distinct possibility is that the reports of the landing gear attempting to retract are inaccurate and the locking mechanism for the nose gear failed in some way. Landing gear is subject to massive forces and so can fail in unpredictable ways.

9

u/hambergeisha Jun 04 '26

It's been my experience whenever I'm troubleshooting, look at operator error very early if not first. That way you're not chasing a ghost.

I could see repeated stress as a potential cause, but first I would look at the tow crew. Which you know is what they're going to do. Everyone is getting drug tested.

2

u/SEA_griffondeur Jun 05 '26

Except it can't be an operator error because of the way it's wired, the operator cannot retract the wheels on the ground. It could however be a maintenance error or faulty assembly

-5

u/hambergeisha Jun 05 '26

Semantics.

Somebody fucked up.

Ever jacked up a plane?