Can someone explain what I saw at Heathrow

[Guest ThrottleUp]

I was walking past London Heathrow (LHR) and saw an A340 thundering down the runway. I stopped to watch it takeoff which was cool. But the gear stayed down....he kept climbing...and it was still down.As he faded away into the distance (still climbing) his wheels were still down.http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/cwm/cwm/uhoh.gifCan all gear-legs jam at once or something?

[Guest rleiro]

Sometimes Gear may be extended a little more time than usual to cool down brakes. In Miami, Air Jamaica's A320 tend to do it from time to time, specially due to long taxiway runs.Regards,

[Guest ThrottleUp]

Thats interesting....didnt know that. I guess the gear-down speed-limit is preety high on those jets then!:)

[Guest]

They will in such cases also speed up more slowly :)Control won't always like that, but maybe there was a slow aircraft (like a turboprop) in front or behind so they didn't mind much.

[oldbear 33]

HiI remember seeing on Airliners.net recently that an Air Canada A340 blew a tyre on take-off at Heathrow and came back after losing some fuel. Perhaps you saw that one? I think it was earlier this month.Ian