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1. What stages of the flight can a landing gear malfunction arise at?

A landing gear malfunction can arise during taxiing, take-off and landing.

2. What are the main reasons for a landing gear malfunction?

They are technical reasons as tyres can collapse or burst (as a result of

• rough landing

• aborted take-off

• structural failure

• mechanical defect

• external or internal fire

• foreign object damage

• overheating or heavy braking),

outside reasons such as impact with a foreign object or a bird strike and human reasons such as mistakes of ground personnel (improper repairing) or errors of crew members.

3. How can a landing gear malfunction affect the flight activity?

A landing gear malfunction degrades controllability of the aircraft and can cause

• a loss of braking performance

• fire

• tyre deflation

• unwanted aircraft ground movement: veering off the RWY, blocked RWY after landing, overrunning RWY threshold, collision with other aircraft or objects on the ground.

• Having land

4. What are the possible consequences of a nose gear problem?

If the landing gear does not retract, the flight is not going to continue. Normally pilots will perform low pass to check (fly by the tower) if there is an actual problem and make an emergency landing.

If the landing gear does not deploy properly or does not extend at all pilots should perform a landing gear manual extension procedure or

circle over the aerodrome for a visual check or

enter a holding pattern and try to sort out the problem. In the worst-case scenario pilots make a belly landing after the runway is sprayed with foam.

If the problem affects one set of main landing gear only, it may be recommended to land with all the other main gear retracted to avoid momentum.

5. How can a pilot get to know / find out about a landing gear problem?

A pilot gets to know / finds out about a landing gear problem with the help of indication, sound alert or from an ATCO who has noticed this problem.

6. What procedures do pilots perform to investigate the problem?

Pilots will request a low pass procedure.

7. What does the pilot request in case of a landing gear problem?

The pilot may request to circle over the aerodrome for a visual check (low pass procedure) or to enter a holding pattern to sort out the problem or to make a belly landing after the runway is sprayed with foam or to land with all the other main gear retracted.

8. What actions does the pilot perform in case of a landing gear problem?

Pilots perform landing on available gears or with all gears up.

9. What actions should a controller perform in case of a landing gear problem?

An ATCO must perform visual inspection when pilots carry out a low pass procedure, must apply low speed approach if required, keep safety strip clear and arrange towing equipment and other emergency services on stand-by.

10. What services must be alerted in case of a landing gear problem?

They are a fire service (a fire engine), medical service (an ambulance), ground service (a tow-tug).

11. What RWY preparations must be carried out=performed in case of a landing with a gear problem?

An ATCO must provide a priority landing, the runway sprayed with foam if necessary and emergencies services on stand-by.

12. What situation connected with a landing gear problem have you heard about?

On the 1st of November 2011 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 16 was scheduled to arrive at Warsaw airport. The crew indicated that the hydraulic system had malfunctioned. The decision was made to continue to Warsaw. The aircraft proceeded to approach as normal, but aborted when the landing gear failed to deploy.

So, the crew made a successful belly landing on Runway 33, with no injuries to anyone. The aircraft, however, sustained substantial damage. All of those on board were evacuated within 90 seconds.