Ryanair nose wheel collapsed while landing

Ryanair nose wheel collapsed while landing

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Discussion

CoolHands

Original Poster:

19,441 posts

202 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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How common is this? Just interested

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11956343/...

Willhire89

1,365 posts

212 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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Having flown for years long haul before I retired it was only then that I encountered RyanAir landings. I was really shocked at the way the pilots bang them down hard and I questioned a friend of mine who flies for BA, He said it was some form of company policy although the benefit was not clear but in my experience that's mostly how they land

I have not answered your question but if any carrier was going to break landing gear in my view it would be them

CoolHands

Original Poster:

19,441 posts

202 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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biggrin

Looks expensive too. I wonder what the likelihood of it causing a bigger accident l though I presume the designers have considered that and built something in.

TheLurker

1,420 posts

203 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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And more importantly, how on earth do you now get that off the runway in a sensible timeframe? Can you get some sort of jack under it and then use a tug?

Evanivitch

22,067 posts

129 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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Willhire89 said:
Having flown for years long haul before I retired it was only then that I encountered RyanAir landings. I was really shocked at the way the pilots bang them down hard and I questioned a friend of mine who flies for BA, He said it was some form of company policy although the benefit was not clear but in my experience that's mostly how they land

I have not answered your question but if any carrier was going to break landing gear in my view it would be them
Pilots at bottom of the ladder under a lot of pressure not to miss landings with overshoots and have to go around again.

alangla

5,191 posts

188 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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Can’t be that much of an issue. I’m sure if it was, Ryanair would discourage their pilots from doing it. AIUI, they’ve only written off one aircraft in an accident in their entire history and that was after a Miracle on the Hudson type mishap in Rome. You see their used 737-800s flying for everyone from TUI to Amazon Prime.

MarkwG

5,093 posts

196 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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"The Flare
The flare reduces the approach rate of descent to a more acceptable rate for touchdown. Unlike light airplanes, a jet airplane should be flown onto the runway rather than “held off” the surface as speed dissipates. A jet airplane is aerodynamically clean even in the landing configuration, and its engines still produce residual thrust at idle rpm. Holding it off during the flare in an attempt to make a smooth landing greatly increases landing distance. A firm landing is normal and desirable. A firm landing does not mean a hard landing, but rather a deliberate or positive landing."

From here: https://www.flight-study.com/2019/12/jet-airplane-...

Panamax

5,057 posts

41 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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Pilot's job is to land the plane safely, not necessarily to land it gently.

That video starts much too late. The plane is designed to land on its main gear, under the wings, which has big wheels, springs and dampers. Nose gear is much more flimsy. We need to see when and how the nose-wheel contacted the runway.

Tony1963

5,318 posts

169 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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Willhire89 said:
Having flown for years long haul before I retired it was only then that I encountered RyanAir landings. I was really shocked at the way the pilots bang them down hard and I questioned a friend of mine who flies for BA, He said it was some form of company policy although the benefit was not clear but in my experience that's mostly how they land

I have not answered your question but if any carrier was going to break landing gear in my view it would be them
When I started with FLS at Stansted back in 2000, FLS had the contract for Ryanair’s wheels, tyres and brakes. It was either £ per landing or £ per flying hour, but the upshot was that it was in Ryanair’s interests to be as hard on the brakes and tyres as possible to shave a few more seconds off the schedule, and possibly turn off the runway before the end of it, thereby saving fuel.

If you want to lose a few million pounds, do a deal with RyanAir. It’ll be gone soon enough.

Edited by Tony1963 on Monday 10th April 16:03

GliderRider

2,527 posts

88 months

Monday 10th April 2023
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Slamming the aircraft into the runway dissipates energy and kills lift, so less fuel is burned using reverse thrust, and as was said, they can turn off the runway earlier saving even more fuel.
The aircraft will probably be more fatigued than others with the same number of hours and flight cycles, but Ryanair will usually have sold the aeroplane by the time that rears its head, and it becomes someone else's problem.

Chuck328

1,588 posts

174 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Evanivitch said:
Pilots at bottom of the ladder under a lot of pressure not to miss landings with overshoots and have to go around again.
Where did you hear or read this then?

Mark V GTD

2,427 posts

131 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Well that could have been a lot worse and expensive. Looking at the pics seems the gear leg had a structural failure but the upper part remained intact in the down position and didn’t even damage the gear doors let alone cause any damage to the fuselage.

Oliver Hardy

2,994 posts

81 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Was there no passangers on board? I would have thought they would avacuate in case of fire?

Not a pilot - sadly - but flown ryanair a lot and I rarely experienced hard landing with them.

MarkwG

5,093 posts

196 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Oliver Hardy said:
Was there no passangers on board? I would have thought they would avacuate in case of fire?

Not a pilot - sadly - but flown ryanair a lot and I rarely experienced hard landing with them.
That's not an automatic decision: a nose gear failure may not result in fire; there's an expectation that there will be injuries using the slides, as well as the extra complications for recovery so it's not a decision taken lightly. In this case, they deplaned when the coaches & stairs arrived, hence no injuries as far as I can tell.

ThunderSpook

3,713 posts

218 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Ryanair have a fantastic safety record I believe. People like to moan about them, but in general they’re very good and they don’t gorge prices unlike some other budget carriers.

I flew Whizz Air recently who wanted £50 each to select seats, whereas Ryanair wanted £6.

Jakey123

242 posts

152 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Willhire89 said:
Having flown for years long haul before I retired it was only then that I encountered RyanAir landings. I was really shocked at the way the pilots bang them down hard and I questioned a friend of mine who flies for BA, He said it was some form of company policy although the benefit was not clear but in my experience that's mostly how they land

I have not answered your question but if any carrier was going to break landing gear in my view it would be them
Ryanair fly 737s, they are known to be quite 'agricultural' compared to 320s or the longhaul types.
This will be where the reputation stems from, TUI and Jet2 operate the same model 737s and the landings will feel the same.
A positive landing is good, a hard landing isn't - this will be where the company policy rumour stems from.

rs4al

950 posts

172 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Jakey123 said:
Ryanair fly 737s, they are known to be quite 'agricultural' compared to 320s or the longhaul types.
This will be where the reputation stems from, TUI and Jet2 operate the same model 737s and the landings will feel the same.
A positive landing is good, a hard landing isn't - this will be where the company policy rumour stems from.
haha, Ryanair has always had a rep in the industry for 'firm' landings, probably something to do with a lot of low houred f/o's coming onto fleet and getting taught to land by numbers (radalt).

Utter BS that you cannot land a 737 smoothly but on the flip side, you have a potential for 'floating' the aircraft down the runway, which on a runway is not desirable. the only reason a 737 has an 'agricultural' reputation is that it is one of the only commercial airliners that still uses cables to control the flight controls and the autopilot has not much finesse compared to other aircraft.

geeks

9,729 posts

146 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Flown a fair bit with RA. Mostly the landings are firm. However recently on return to Stansted the pilot out is down so hard I had neck ache for about 2 days!

eccles

13,811 posts

229 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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Mark V GTD said:
Well that could have been a lot worse and expensive. Looking at the pics seems the gear leg had a structural failure but the upper part remained intact in the down position and didn’t even damage the gear doors let alone cause any damage to the fuselage.
Looks to me that the nose gear is fully intact and maybe the nose wheel brakes have jammed on and the sparks are from the wheel/bolts after bursting the tyres.

Chuck328

1,588 posts

174 months

Tuesday 11th April 2023
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eccles said:
Looks to me that the nose gear is fully intact and maybe the nose wheel brakes have jammed on and the sparks are from the wheel/bolts after bursting the tyres.
Nose wheel doesn’t have a brake.