AIRBUS LANDING PROBLEMS DATE BACK TO '90S.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer Federal records show at least seven cases dating back to the 1990s when A320s couldn't retract TO RETRACT. To withdraw a proposition or offer before it has been accepted. 2. This the party making it has a right to do is long as it has not been accepted; for no principle of law or equity can, under these circumstances, require him to persevere in it. their nose landing gear because the wheels turned sideways. In 1994, the Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control warned that the A320's braking and steering-control unit could steer the nose gear at a 90-degree angle after landing. The FAA ordered a change in software. In 1998, after two similar malfunctions blamed on distorted O-ring seals on the steering control module's selector valve, Airbus officials said the problem might be aging seals and recommended that they be replaced. After a 1999 emergency landing in Ohio by an A320 that had not had the O-ring fix, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive An Airworthiness Directive (commonly abbreviated as AD) is a notification to aircraft owner and operator of a known safety deficiency with a particular model of aircraft, engine, avionics or other system. giving American Airlines American Airlines Major U.S. airline. American was created through a merger of several smaller U.S. airlines and incorporated in 1934. It continued to buy the routes of other airlines, becoming an international carrier in the 1970s; its routes include South America, the 12 months to comply with Airbus' recommendation. At least three similar incidents have occurred since that order before the latest mishap, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. federal records. In November 2002, a JetBlue A320 taking off from Buffalo couldn't retract its nose gear after the wheels stuck at a 90-degree angle. The plane landed with minor damage in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Less than three weeks later, a similar United Airlines A319 had the same thing happen at Chicago and turned back, again resulting in minor damage. In the Chicago incident, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that mechanics at a firm under contract to United had installed a shock absorber shock absorber, device for reducing the effect of a sudden shock by the dissipation of the shock's energy. On an automobile, springs and shock absorbers are mounted between the wheels and the frame. assembly incorrectly, allowing the nose gear to turn sideways. The New York incident also showed indications of a problem with the shock absorber, records show. In July 2004, a United Airlines A320 had to make an unscheduled landing because the pilots couldn't retract the nose landing gear after it failed to center. The airline blamed that malfunction on a failure of the landing- gear control interface unit. Two months before that, a different United Airlines A320 was taxiing onto a runway when its front brakes went out and the nose wheel made an uncommanded left turn. Mechanics said the braking and steering control unit failed, records show. |
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