Great ending.  Welcome back!

Here's a pic of something you might be interested to see if you like airliners and want to know exactly what the pushback crew are doing to your airliner..

When the pushback truck's towbar is connected to the nose gear of the airliner, the pushback crew have to insert a steering bypass pin into the nose gear. Typically you pull a little lever with a hole in it which is located on the nose gear so that the hole aligns with another hole in the main gear assembly, and then shove the bypass pin through those two holes when they are aligned so it locks in place. This disengages the hydraulic steering system from the nosewheel to allow the nose gear to pivot freely, which will then allow the pushback tug to steer the aeroplane much like a truck with a semi trailer on it.

There's another 'fused' pin on the pushback towbar called the shear pin, which is designed to break and disconnect the towbar if the pushback tug's movement is too fierce and might risk damage the aeroplane. The steering bypass pin with its red 'remove before flight' streamer is what you see the pushback crew holding up to show the pilot after pushback has been completed, in order to demonstrate that the bypass pin is no longer inserted into the nosegear, so the pilot will know the steering is going to work when he/she starts taxying.

There are two bypass pins here in this pic, the blue one is for Boeing 700 series airliners (apart from the 747 and 100/200 series 737, which use a different sized pin), the red one is for most modern Airbus airliners. The little lugs on the tip on the shaft of each pin are spring loaded ball bearings which lock the pin in place when inserted in the nose gear, the anodised coloured button on the the handle, retracts the little lugs when you press it so you can remove it from the landing gear.

Edited June 1, 20188 yr by Chock

WB Alan. Wondered where you'd gotten to. Glad things are sorted out for you.

 

Vic

17 hours ago, Chock said:

If you need someone to review how jolly handy the undercarriage wheel well of a Boeing 737 is for sheltering from the rain in Manchester, I am your man lol: Took this pic on my phone whilst doing exactly that the other day:

Looks like somewhere to hide for someone without a ticket ?....

Regards

Bill

 

 

11 hours ago, BillCusick said:

 

It ain't pressurised and there'd not be much room when the gear came up, so I wouldn't fancy trying it myself 😄

I think a few blokes froze to death trying to stow away in those compartments, I wouldn't want to try it. 

What do you know, they have a list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wheel-well_stowaway_flights

We should place warnings at ALL international airports.....

Alan WILL find you if you try....

Regards

Bill

 

Well, here’s a funny way to get a day off work:

Was putting stuff in the rear baggage hold of an A330 today; most of the cargo is in ULD containers, which is easy, but any additional loose baggage goes in the little hold at the rear, so I was in that small hold putting the crew bags, prams, wheelchairs etc in after we had stuck the containers in and there was a lot of loose baggage, more than usual, so it was getting really full in that little hold and hard to move about and fasten the cargo nets etc, especially since I had to recheck some of it after it was loaded.

As a result, my security pass got pulled off unnoticed, it must have snagged on a pram or wheelchair or something without me seeing it come off, I sealed the cargo door up, then went to work on an A321, unloading that and then uploading more stuff onto it for a fast turnaround; did that other Airbus, and then noticed my pass was gone, so it was too late to check the A330 because we’d pushed both planes out, so now my security pass is in Orlando. Contacted he A330 crew and asked them to get the ramp people at Orlando to look for my pass. Hopefully it’ll fly back to Manchester tomorrow, but until it does, with no pass, I can’t go through security to work, so, day off tomorrow! Hope my pass enjoys its little holiday, but I had to void it at the security centre just to be on the safe side.

Edited June 3, 20188 yr by Chock

Allen, I m a bit behind the power curve and just saw you are back on another thread. Glad to see it. Always enjoy your informative post.