Apparently JetBlue flight 292 (an Airbus 320) has landing gear problems, having taken off from Burbank some time ago. They are trying to make an emergency landing at LAX, scheduled for 8:25 EDT.

I only mention this because the whole story is being carried live on TV! Seems as if it can be carried live on TV in LA, it will be...car chases, mudslides, plane landings, you name it.

I really really hope that everything goes well and they land safely...keep primary digits crossed

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I was flipping through channels and found the news channels are all broadcasting it. I can't even begin to explain what I find wrong with them waiting to see a plane potentially crash...

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A few posters over on airliners.net have mentioned something about some of the networks talking with actual passengers on the flight...if so, I would assume via cell phone and primarily because the passengers were watching seat-back DirecTV and phoned into whatever news network they were watching...

It's awful enough to see the situation unfolding on TV, but I can't even begin to imagine how terrible it would be to watch video coverage of your disabled flight from your on-board TV...nor can I imagine who in the world agreed to put the passengers on the air, if they did. Are ratings really that important to them?

Again, here's hoping that everyone lands safely...

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Oh dear. I guess police chases got boring.

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here's what I want to know--so it took off at Burbank? why an emergency landing at LAX? the airports aren't that far apart--less than an hour by car, and you've got to go through downtown LA. I'm sure there's a reason; I just don't know what it is. (probably more accustomed to emergencies at LAX, which is also by far the bigger airport.) but put it this way--it doesn't substantially matter which airport I use to visit my mother; neither's more than about a forty-five minute drive unless it's rush hour.

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LAX has longer runways than both Burbank and Long Beach, where they tried to land earlier. You're right in that they are more prepared there - likely they have more emergency equipment on-site than other, smaller airports. I understand that they have the option of diverting to Edwards AFB in the desert near Lancaster (over the mountains, just beyond LA), which has the longest potential runway of all, the dry lake bed where they have landed the shuttle.

I think they didn't want to divert to another, more distant city (like Phoenix, for example) in case there were other, unknown problems with the plane besides the nose gear. There's a whole lotta nothing between LA and other major cities (in terms of viable airports, I mean...unless they wanted to make a soft landing in a raisin field in the Central Valley).

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Well here goes nothing. I wish these 'experts' would shut up. Well done, flyboys. It's miller time.

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They made it, parked on the runway now!

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Clear skies Maksutov.

I'll bet a lot of newscasters are disappointed.

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The way the wheels got ground down by the landing it reminded me of how two 3D solids look when intersecting on a computer.

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Kudos to the pilot of that plane! I've been aboard planes where the landing gear were functional that were bumpier than that. The front landing gear ended up exactly on the center line of the runway when the plane stopped!

I'm amazed that the landing gear could ake that kind of force. That's a pat on the back for the engineers who designed that landing gear. Of course he/she'll probably be fired for designing the landing gear.

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Uhm, any information/link as to what happened, waht was wrong with the wheel, how they landed it etc please?

Edit: found it on CNN.com.

I just watched the video: amazing work!!

The total control during that landing, it was just perfect. Easy on the main gear while keeping the nose up, soaring only the nosegear over the runway (Holiday passengers seem to like the "i can't even feel it" complete soaring landings, though these aren't the safest ones as there is little pressure on the tires to keep it firmly on the runway and give it a good brake. Here they put the main gear firmly though VERY controlled on the runway, making sure the contact (and hence braking force) stays throughout the landing, while forcing the nosewheel to soar over the runway nonetheless.). Really going for a long way on the main gear (F-16 like landing, though without the high aoa to airbrake ). Then putting the nosewheel down in such a soft and controlled way (at the right time, when there was still enough speed to avoid falling on the nose wheel), having a perfectly straight course. And the nosewheel itself: tires exploded (which is OK and normal in this situation), wheels got dented and ended up breaking more or less away, the nose gear itself got scraped off quite a bit, but it held on and let go very little (sharp) pieces as it seems! Even the runway seems to have suffered very little. Amazing piloting work, very good design (the wheel problem could have been due to design mistakes though, but also things like maintenance faults can be the cause) and a bit of luck. Perfect emergency landing!

The bit of luck was needed for things like the main gear getting stuck in the runway (between patches) and braking off anyway, or sudden sideskidding during the runout at a time where the speed was too low for the rudder to compensate. As the main landing forces and speed were properly dealt with by the main gear, I think that woul have resulted only in (a lot more) damage but no wounded. This one seems like "new nosegear on it, checking the surrounding construction where it is hung up to and up you go" .

It must have been the smelliest landing ever however . "Let's burn some rubber!"

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Was it a good thing in bad luck that the wheel had blocked in a 90°-off position? In this position, you have not very much forces trying to get you to the sides. I guess, if it would have been blocked 10° or 20° to the left or right, the pilot would have had a harder time to keep it on the center line. Any estimates of the steering forces that are introduced by the wheel compared to those you can get from the rudder and the engines? I guess, in such a situation, one pilot takes care of the rudders and the other stands ready to give some control by the engines.
Congrats to the pilots. It was a very smooth landing - except for the fireworks.
Will be interesting to know what happened that made the wheel block.

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To Nicolas!

My piloting experience is limited to a Cessna 152, but the mainwheel brakes on an aircraft are operated separately, allowing the pilot to use differing pressure on each side to steer the aircraft down the runway - below a certain speed the rudder becomes useless, anyway. But I'd have to agree that having the nosewheel locked at 90 degrees would have to be easier to control than any other angle. Other than 0, of course...

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Oh God, why am I reminded of Souix City for some reason?

When I fly I make a point of offering a "thank you" through the cockpit door on my way out, and a compliment if it was a particularly smooth landing. This guy I would have bought lunch for. My hat is off to him/them.

I wonder if there was the "b'bye" chorus on the way out?

146 people on board had access to their news!

I did not know this, but each seat is equiped with a TV.

If the landing gear had been manufactured in accordance with Six Sigma and/or Lean, it would have collapsed the second it experienced any unusual stresses that weren't part of the conventional landing profile specification. Any safety factors to account such out-of-spec performance issues would have been eliminated by the Black Belts and bean counters during the design phase in order to minimize cost and maximize profits.

If properly investigated, I'm sure it'll be a pink slip for the engineer(s) who wasted such valuable resources and potentially had a negative effect on company profits.

Meanwhile, congrats to the crew for a successful landing, the flight controllers who brought them in safely to the best runway available for this situation, and the emergency response personnel who were ready just in case.

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Apparently, Maksutov is not alone in the congrats! This was simply amazing what the pilots were able to do in landing this beast! I'm near tears.

Nice landing
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/926274/L/

This was serious but Sioux city was in a different league altogether though. It is unbelievable anyone got out alive from that flight. After the loss of flight controls (IIRC NO elevator rudder or aelerons were working due to the damage) It is almost unthinkable that the crew go the thing anywhere near to landing let alone anyone surviving.

I'm sorry, but the way I (aerospace engineer) was learned Lean manufacturing, we never sacrificed anything concerning safety. Efficiency of the plant was the central point. The removal of any waste (with "waste" having a complex definition here ). So only the things that aren't value-adding should be discarded. Making a nose gear strong enough so it can hold up when the wheels are blocked (or turend 90°) is certainly value-adding. Whether extra safety measures survive the pro-con (gain, chance of occurence, cost, weight...) tradeoff is a matter where lean principles should stay away from. Extra safety is not waste, hence not discarded by lean principles.

That's the mesage they gave us at least.

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Agreed. I won't ask what awesome airline that was, either.

From what I understand, those were turned off about 50 minutes before the landing.

They are going to interview a pregnant lady who was a passenger... all she could think about was that her husband was watching this! I may fall asleep soon.

Hmmm now let me think....can i have 1 guess!

Apparently not, as reported by CNN.

Yup, that's the message.

But when the stuff hits the fan (at least here in the US), eliminating waste means looking hard at anything claimed to be value-added. Anything, including safety features. If it's not in the performance specification, then it's not value-added and subject to elimination as an unnecessary waste. For instance, measures incorporated to eliminate potential safety problems are not considered to be "valued-added". Here the bean counters consider them waste. I know, I've had this discussion more times with more accountants than I care to recall.

You hit upon the key word, "extra". In the US at least there are no extras. If the customers didn't specify it and pay for it in the contract, and it adds to the cost of manufacturing, then it's waste and will be eliminated per the rules of Lean.

Over there safety may be important, here the priority is keeping the bean counters, shareholders, and CEOs with big bonuses riding on increased profits, happy.

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