Several Lufthansa ground workers were hurt when a company Boeing 787’s nosegear collapsed while it was parked at a gate at Frankfurt Airport in Germany on Friday. The cause of the sudden failure has not yet been released. At least three workers were outside the plane when its nose dropped to the concrete and there were apparently people inside. The injuries were described as minor. The damage to the airplane may be more significant. The nose took a pretty heavy wallop and it’s difficult to tell if the nacelles touched the ground. At a minimum the plane will need a detailed inspection before it flies again. It had arrived from Austin and was scheduled to go to Los Angeles.
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Did someone forget to install the gear pins?
Take a look at Maximus Aviation on YT. They are either putting them in the wrong holes, or they haven’t complied with the Boeing service bulletin.
So this isn’t an isolated incident.
2d ago
Lufthansa B747
Air China B767
Air India B777
British Airways B787
FedEx A300
Allegiant A319
Singapore Airlines A330
Emirates A380
Those front gear doors that are lying crushed under the nose of the jet don’t normally open unless the gear retraction/extension cycle is initiated. Photos also show the main gear doors open, which again are normally closed except when the gear is in transit.
This has all the hallmarks of a maintenance error, despite nearly every major news outlet trying to tar & feather Boeing over it.
I’d be interested to know if there’s a formal definition for the word “collapse” in this context. It seems like Lufthansa’s use of the term “retract” in their statement is likely both more appropriate and also a rather large hint as to what happened. But maybe “collapse” means “to retract while the aircraft is on the ground”, as opposed to the everyday definition of “broke and fell over”?