Cable Forum - View Single Post - Passengers watch wheel falling off their plane but don't think to tell anyone

Kymmy · 15-11-2011, 21:21

Possibly but a wheel can give significant drag.. It'll probably depend on the pilot and conditions at the time. You also have to remember that the wheels on the q400 are further out than most aircraft of this size. I suppose it depends on how long the wheel was missing before the retraction as trimming to compensate for the yaw and then having to suddenly trim again on retraction should make a pilot take notice of an issue (easy though to say with hind-sight). From the reports it's a bit confusing as to who alerted the pilot (ATC, passenger has been mentioned yet in other reports now mention of ATC or passenger telling the pilot.)

15-11-2011, 21:21	#34
Kymmy Inactive Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 18,385	Re: Passengers watch wheel falling off their plane but don't think to tell anyone Possibly but a wheel can give significant drag.. It'll probably depend on the pilot and conditions at the time. You also have to remember that the wheels on the q400 are further out than most aircraft of this size. I suppose it depends on how long the wheel was missing before the retraction as trimming to compensate for the yaw and then having to suddenly trim again on retraction should make a pilot take notice of an issue (easy though to say with hind-sight). From the reports it's a bit confusing as to who alerted the pilot (ATC, passenger has been mentioned yet in other reports now mention of ATC or passenger telling the pilot.)