Seen it all now....

[forthbridge]

through in Livingston earlier, and a BA flight arrived on the approach to EGPH - around 4nm from the threshold there, and after 25 years living there, oddities stand out - and this did...

Not sure if it was an Airbus or 737, (former I think) but anyway, the aircraft pitched up quite quickly to about 8-10 degrees nose up, and the gear came down as it did so (all aircraft pop the gear between 4 and 3nm from threshold from my obbos over the years) - anyway, once the gear was down, the aircraft settled back down to the normal attitude - the pitch up seemed to slow it a little - not something I have ever seen before - is this relatively normal?

About the only other A/C I've seen in that attitude there was a Delta 757 and I thought the pilot had mucked up the approach and was too low, using pitch and thrust to get back into the glidepath.

I can liken it to 'Maverick' 'hitting the brakes' move in top gun - only slower......

[Chris Trott]

May have been an emergency extension. You use the pitch up to try and "throw" the gear against the downlocks. Most commercial aircraft only have a gravity emergency system due to the problem with trying to service a nitrogen blow-down system on an in-service aircraft. This system uses springs and gravity to extend the gear and most pilots are trained to do a pitch maneuver to ensure the nose gear locks down although it'll usually also ensure the mains lock.

Why he'd do this on such short final suggests other problems as well because it's not normal for that to be done at low level. It is suggested it be done at a safe altitude as if it doesn't work, you want to have time to do it again.

I'd look for news reports.

[forthbridge]

:think:

Nothing on the news - I must say the gear appeared to drop normally, can't say I noticed anything out of the ordinary with that.
One of those moves that catches the eye tho. If I'd looked up 5 seconds later I would not have noticed anything odd...

[Prop Jockey]

Have you had and CB's up there today Jim ? I've done LHR-CDG and back today and flying conditions are 'sporty' - in fact Heathrow was closed to departures for a while whilst a beauty went overhead. You may have seen a positive response to encountering some sinking air - there's plenty around today.

Cheers

Rich

[forthbridge]

Could be....

It was at the usual gear-down spot - from obbos I would say it would be unusual for the gear not to be down or going down where I saw it..

The engines sounded like the CFM (IE not really a jet sound) - and I heard them from in the car - so it could well have been. I was heading due south with the flightline right in front of me, I'd say the whole pitch up was complete within a quarter of a mile, before it settled. It didn't appear to sink in height other than the normal descent rate.

[Kevin Farnell]

a BA flight arrived on the approach to EGPH

:o :o :o

The biggest shock, is seeing a BA aircraft in the UK outside London.

For that very reason, I won't fly with them myself!

Kevin

[TSR2]

I know what you mean Kevin. I loaded up all the WOAI stuff the other night and couldn't understand why there where no BA aircraft in Northern Ireland, then I remembered they dont fly there anymore. Aldergrove is a mass of Easyjet and Ryanair... yuk

[jonesey2k]

I agree with you on the Ryanair bit at least, but I like EasyJet