Landing gear check

As you may already know, when a technician jumps up onto the wheel and leans toward the shock strut, there is a high probability that he has finally decided to deal with the brake valve.

However, what could he possibly be doing if, in the very same pose, he is looking upward into the corner and pretending to be deeply interested?

The fact is that, as was discovered some time ago, on aircraft of the Airbus A320 family the rear bracket of the main landing gear hinge occasionally develops cracks.

As a result, an Airworthiness Directive was issued quite some time ago.

This directive is further detailed in a Service Bulletin concerning inspection of the forward lug of the rear hinge of the main landing gear.

So, at specified intervals, you dear technician are kindly requested to flutter up onto the wheel, clean the dirt off the bracket, and inspect it.

On both main landing gear legs, of course.

And if you happen to find a crack well, then you contact Airbus.

And the aircraft will remain parked by the fence for a while.

It should be understood that a great number of directives for checks and inspections are issued across various aircraft types and manufacturers.

Complying with them is simply part of our job.

So in this case, Airbus is by no means unique.