Malaysia 122 gear down over parramatta

[Jared F]

Hi all, long time reader, first time poster.

I live just west of Parramatta and noticed that the Malaysia airlines flight 122 this afternoon flew over on departure with its landing gear down. I haven't seen this happen before and am wondering what the reason was behind it. It took off from 34L and appeared to be climbing off normally. Any info would be great. Thanks, Jared

ps. It was good to see Wunala Dreaming fly over again this afternoon after what happened in the U.S.

[Nigel C]

Possibly cooling the brakes. it's not a regular event, but it does happen from time to time.

Welcome.

[Jared F]

Thanks for the prompt reply Nigel.

[Nick W.]

Possibly cooling the brakes. it's not a regular event, but it does happen from time to time.


I've heard this reason before, but why would the brakes be hot on takeoff?

I'm not a 744 pilot, and the cherokee manual doesn't quite fit the bill on this one;)

N

[Nigel C]

It could be a number of factors.

Short turnarounds can be a contributor, as can an excessively long taxi route. I'm sure there are others.

Would the airline driver folk please step forward!

[Noel White]

Saw the same thing happening about four or five weeks ago, Malaysian B747 departing off 34L was out as far as Winston Hills with gear still extended. By the sounds of it was in a normal climbing profile.

[Anthony J]

Sometimes a requirement for a capped brake. As the individual brake is then inoperative the gear is left down to allow the wheel to spin down before undercarriage retraction.

I noticed a JQ A330 doing the same thing this afternoon.

[Stu M]

I have heard pilots refer to this as a 'HOT BRAKES" departure, requiring the gear to be down for some time after departure, and yes a good example of this is a quick turnaround. I did see the Malaysian 747 gear down departure today, and often see JQ A330 keeping its gear down as well.

[Sarah C]

I have seen a number of JQ A330's doing the same thing recently

[Jared F]

Just another quick question related to having the landing gear down. I noticed an aircraft which i think was an A330, possibly China Eastern MU0565, on downwind approach to 16R over my place at Greystanes with its gear down. The aircraft would have to have been at around 6000ft. Could a reason for this to be to slow the plane down? I thought it was weird as most aircraft on approach generally let the gear down at about 2000ft or so.

Thanks, Jared

[D Chan]

Could a reason for this to be to slow the plane down? I thought it was weird as most aircraft on approach generally let the gear down at about 2000ft or so.

Thanks, Jared

While I don't know about the A330, it is possible to lower the gear early to 'slow down' on the 737ngs.. the max gear down limit is somewhere around 280 knots from memory.