FLL Incident

[MotorCity 2]

`Excellent work'' by pilots praised for safe landing 6-22-03

Passengers on a US Airways flight out of Charlotte got the ride of their lives Saturday when the landing-gear wheels on their jet locked up on touchdown at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, a fire official said.

No one was injured, thanks to excellent work by the plane''s pilots, said Broward County Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Todd LeDuc.

On landing, reportedly, the landing gear locked up, meaning the tires weren''t turning, LeDuc said. The friction blew the US Airways commercial jetliner''s main tires and the airplane zigzagged down the runway, wearing down the rims before coming safely to a stop.

LeDuc said the 4:50 p.m. landing left an impression of a large snake going down the runway.

At least three rescue vehicles and eight fire engines responded to the scene. Passengers left the Airbus 320 via a set of motorized stairs and were taken by bus to the terminal.

Everyone was really grateful that the pilot did such a really great job and everyone walked away, LeDuc said.

 

[geo1004]

Good job by the US pilots!

Thumbs up!

 

[ClueByFour]

I''m assuming it was not the nose gear. Antiskid wigged out, perhaps?

Kudos to the crew. This clearly could have been ugly.

 

[LGA777]

From what I understand all brakes locked up on landing. It
was A/C 105UW Shuttle A320, 148 paxs onboard, aircraft was
scheduled to ferry to CLT Sunday night for further repairs.

 

[roadtrip]

Good job!

 

[LavMan]

The airplane was on landing, it was an anti-skid failure or something with the brake metering valve.

 

[phasersonstun2]

Parking brake on switch may have failed in the ON position.

 

[WO/drone]

I heard in PIT it was a computer glitch. Anyone have any hard facts from maintenance?

 

[zonecontroller]

The parking brake was set just after takeoff. The parking brake was released six seconds after landing in FLL.

 

[fatherabraham]

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On 6/26/2003 6:40:14 AM zonecontroller wrote:

The parking brake was set just after takeoff. The parking brake was released six seconds after landing in FLL.


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Zone,

Thanks for the info, would you site your source.

 

[757fixer]

They replaced the BSCU.(brake steering control unit)aka the computer.This per the aircraft history in mach.

 

[tadjr]

I had a friend send me some pix of what was left of the tires in FLL. Could have been a lot worse than it was from the looks of it. Anyone want to see them, pm me with an address and I''ll send them out to you.

 

[nycbusdriver]

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On 6/26/2003 6:40:14 AM zonecontroller wrote:

The parking brake was set just after takeoff. The parking brake was released six seconds after landing in FLL.

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This may be a pilot screwup, but it could be a purely Airbus electronics glitch, too. Just because the system monitors showed the parking brake engaged after liftoff, it does not necessarily mean the pilots placed the Parking Brake Switch in the "On" position. The operative word here is "Switch" which is exactly what the red parking brake knob is on the A320. It merely sends a signal to the BSCU computer that the switch is either on or off. If the computer goes haywire, it could have very well sent itself the "On" signal no matter what the position of the cockpit switch. This, of course, would set the parking brake with no input from the cockpit. Stranger things than this have happened on these electronic marvels.

So, yes, the parking brake may have been set...by the airplane itself with no indication to the pilots. The cockpit panel indication (on the upper ECAM CRT) simply tell the position of the handle. If the cockpit parking brake switch is "On," it annunciates simply "Parking Brake." It is an indication of switch position only, and not an indication of the actual status of the brakes!

This particular system leaves a bit to be desired, IMHO.

 

[757fixer]

This seems to be nothing more than a computer failure.How many times have you pilots had to call a mechanic to the cockpit because a fault message appears out of nowhere.Also,you can not set the parking brake in flight,at least not if the system is working properly.

 

[navyc9]

If the brake was set at touch-down, what did the ACARS capture as an "in time"? Did everyone get payed for all of the flight time?