IainC

Okay, FlightAware now showing tortuous emergency flight path of UA840 back to SYD landing over 2 h ago! So much for real time tracking, it's taken over 2 h for FightAware to update! Both UA840 and UA870 cancelled today - not a good day for UA but fortunate not worse. Must have been a hair-raising emergency landing for all with a number of flat tyres - how do you land a full 747 that has flat tyres?

og

I saw what must have been UA840 flying overhead at about 6 km north of SYD. Landing gear was still down and it was not climbing as per usual UA departures. I thought at the time that this flight is most likely going nowhere. This must mean 4 UA 744s at SYD tomorrow morning when the LAX and SFO flights arrive.

Edited:

Here is some media and a photo of the damage: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...020-2vuwo.html

docbert

Looks like 3 headed back to the US on Monday, which makes sense given the damage to the 4th.

The extra flight is UA1745 SYD-SFO, depart 5:00 PM, arrive 12:16 PM.

Tonights (Sunday) LAX-SYD flight is on, and now has a ship assigned to it - #8404 which is being ferried down from SFO.

Photo of the damage - http://instagram.com/p/fshMo0DeI0/

Anyone know why UA870 was canceled?

4293844428

Don't know for certain, but if I were to guess: knock-on delays from 840 meant that 870's crews would have had limits exceeded on arrival if they would have left that day, so they canceled the flight.

ozflier

The worrying thing is that:

Even if the new 777s were in use, the following SYD-SFO service would still be canx because of pilots timing out.

ie it is not just an issue of old equipment which will be fixed by the 777s.

Some minor points,

I wonder if the pax on the service to LAX noticed the tyre burst on the way up and did they experience a rough landing on return.

It looks like plane circled for some hours over the Tasman, did they offer any kind of refreshments/food during that time?

Does the 777 have the ability to discharge fuel once airborne - I know that not all a/c can do this.

Jorgen

Oh man, I was actually on the verge of biting the bullet and booking a United flight for my next trip to the USA. No more! I'm playing with my schedule to get on the NZ flight.

netd

Sure did! Am used to strange noises on these 747's but this was a hell of a bang as we left the ground, when no one seemed too worried I just decided it was another mystery sound to chalk down to experience. Anyway there was an announcement about 20 mins in (maybe more, maybe less, I was buried in my book by then) and they told us we lost a tyre, couldn't get the landing gear up and we'd be going back after dumping fuel. Cue group sigh.

Seemed to fly around for an eternity, which at the time reminded me of the old "if we lose another engine we'll be up here all day" joke. The crew got everyone to practice emergency landing positions etc. which fortunately we didn't need. Crew handled it well but sounded a little stressed, which I think did stress some passengers out. In the end a *very* smooth landing though and top marks to the guys up front and all the crew.

Put us up in various hotels overnight, I scored Rydges over the road which is nice. Heading over to check in and have another try soon. Wish us luck.

ozflier

Boy,

that does sound scary especially the bit about the undercarriage not retracting - suggesting something physically blocking it which may affect the landing!

all the best for a confirmed and safe flight today.

LordTentacle

IIRC pretty much anything widebody can

docbert

Most but not all. All 747, A340 and (I think) 777 can, but on the 767 and A330's it's an optional feature. Whether airlines order it depends mainly on the routes they are intending to fly the aircraft on (short v's medium v's long-haul) which will effect takeoff weight and volume of fuel carried.

eflyte

Certainly the UA 777-200s can, I've been on board two when they did so.

og

Probably SOP for the crew not to attempt a gear retraction when they suspect a blown tyre (tire) - saves potential damage if "things" are not where they should be. But I'd refer that to someone qualified to comment (I'm not).

4293844428

I'm not qualified either, but I suspect you're right: compare what happened with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria...ys_Flight_2120 for example.

docbert

All 3 flights from SYD are in the air (840, 870 and 1745). All flights have spare seats, so I'm presuming they were able to merge the 4 flights into 3.

Unfortunately (for me, at least) the makeup flight UA1745 is running a little late, which is delaying my SFO-FRA today which is using the same plane!

lhrsfo

I seem to remember about 15 years ago flying from LGW to GCI on GR with a tyre burst issue. We continued to GCI but did a low and slow fly past while the tower inspected the gear before we landed. All was considered good enough to land so we turned round and had an almost perfect landing.