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I don't would like to be at the place of pilot 
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hehe. So much work went into producing that aircraft, and maintiance brings it down!!
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I can only imagine the "strip" that was verbally torn off those responsible by the late "Kelly" Clarence Johnson... a man of "language
colourful" by some accounts... such a D'Oh... is that a 12 or a 71?
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According to what I can find, it was an SR-71. Supposedly they were doing a hydraulic test, turned the system on, put the gear handle up, and someone
forgot to install locking pins in that strut to keep the gear from retracting.
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Thanx Zaphod58... I couldn't tell from the photo whether it was a dark colour or a lighter colour and the photo just made it look that way. Either
way a magnificent technical achievement... makes one wonder what's in the classified inventory all these years later.
Thanx,
Victor K.
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not a nice pic but a new pic...  Good explanation zap...
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Back in the day . . . when I was a plane captain, locking pins were the first thing you did after shutdown. I can't imagine doing any maintenance
before securing the bird. Man, have times changed!
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They're installed before the planes are shutdown, however for some maintenance problems they are removed before troubleshooting, or working the
problem. It was PROBABLY the Landing Gear Position Indicator, which means they would have had to jack the plane and retract the gear hence the
downlock removal. They then would have had to move the gear handle with weight on the strut to make sure that the indicators worked. After dropping
the jacks, they probably forgot to reinstall the downlocks.
Note- This is speculation on my part, but the biggest reason to remove the gear pins is because they have to jack the plane and retract the gear while
it's on jacks.
Note 2- When the SR came down it was a couple of thousand degrees due to the high speed. The crews would have to wait several hours to work on them,
while they cooled down. It's also possible that they COULDN'T install the gear locks until it cooled, and they immediately started working the
problem it had, and they never got installed.
[edit on 5/22/2006 by Zaphod58]
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That particular serviceman got more than he bargined for. Some information I read stated his superiors were just short of throwing him off the base
and out of the service right then and there. Let's just say he couldn't sit down for awhile, if you know what I mean.
Either way, 'That's one way to end your career'. 
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