Posted: 3/29/2006 6:06:29 PM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
Quoted: We don't, we pull them at EOR (for fighters), just before they take off. On the C-17 the landing gear pins are the very last thing to pull before the dope-on-a-rope aka loadmaster closes the door.
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But the article says....
The 22-page report blamed the accident on an inadequate and incomplete training manual. The manual failed to instruct mechanics to pull the nose landing gear pin before starting the jet engines.
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The Air Force Times says.....
Small part, costly damage
A loose piece of metal — a 5-inch-long landing gear pin, to be exact — caused $6.8 million in damage to an F-22A Raptor engine, the Air Force said in an accident investigation report issued March 22.
The landing gear pin and its fabric streamer were sucked into the right engine Oct. 20 at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, after a crew chief lost his grip on the streamer, the report said.
The report didn’t fault the crew chief, Senior Airman Arthur Blosser, 27th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, or pilot, Maj. Evan Dertien, 27th Fighter Squadron, both of Langley Air Force Base, Va.
The investigation found there were no technical orders detailing what to do when removing a Raptor’s nose landing gear pin while the engines are running. Because of his experience with F-15Cs, Blosser thought he could safely remove the pin.
The report noted that at the time, the Langley units were under pressure to ensure that the F-22A met the goal of having the Raptor approved for “initial operating capability” by the end of December. The Raptor met the IOC goal Dec. 15.
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The last I knew the pin was removed on -22s per the manual after starting one engine due to an issue with the NLG. Chairborne, landing gear pins are pulled on 15s, 16s, and 22s by the crew chief in chocks, not at EOR. The only pins that are pulled at EOR are the ones that used to safe the munitions on the acft.
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