OO-VLE Cityjet Fokker 50 heavily damaged at RTM Rotterdam

[Passenger]

It seems that the landing gear of an empty Fokker-50 failed whilst the aircraft was just parked on the tarmac. Dutch news sites report that just one engineer was on board, and that an airport rep tells the aircraft OO-VLE is a total written off.

Source : Rijnmond TV
http://www.rijnmond.nl/Homepage/Nieuws? ... %20Airport

[hvs89]

Another picture : http://www.airliners.net/photo/CityJet/ ... 1917523/L/

[earthman]

Weren't there incidents in the past where an engineer retracted the gear while on the ground? Is this another one of those?

[stratofreighter]

According to some Fokker 50 mechanics OO-VLE may actually be repairable, but only at great expense...

[DeltaWiskey]

Everything is "rapairable"... Judging by the photos, it is going to be very costly... I don't think it makes any sense. Such a shame.

btw, sudden colapse? I don't think there would have been any collapse if there wasn't a mechanic in the cockpit

[teddybAIR]

Judging by the photos, it is going to be very costly...

What did you judge then, because I can't conclude anything based on these pictures.

[aba]

What did you judge then, because I can't conclude anything based on these pictures.

If you look at the airliners.net picture posted above you can clearly see wrinkles below the cockpit windshields fwd of the airstair aswell as aft of the airstair and next to the Ice impact shield at the top of the fuselage, these wrinkles imply that the fuselage is no longer "straight" and would require significant structural repairs to be considered airworthy again. It's also a shame that it appears this could have been prevented with the standard procedure of installing a landing gear pin in the downlock between the drag-stay and MLG leg, the reason these were not installed is unclear to me. I believe it is impossible for the actuator to break the pin with a landing gear up selection in the cockpit.

[giovbe]

Look at the wrinkles near the cockpit and above cityjet, the fuselage is cracked.
Seems like heavy damage to me.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/CityJet/ ... 1917523/L/

[Yuri166]

Take a look at the pictures on this site:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/rec ... -0&lang=nl
Looks pretty similar. This Fokker was repaired and is still servicable, allthough retired from SAS.

And I know one of the cargo door converted F50's bears the scars of a similar incidant as well, but that happened in a time when the F50 still had a reasenable value, so repair was logical.

I thought the cause of the uncommanded retractions in the past was eliminated by modifications, so I am curious why VLE decided to lift its feet. Investigation will bring that to light. For now don't blame the engineer though, his actions probably triggered a latent fault, surely this was not what he had in mind...

Anybody knows what the status is at this point?

[stratofreighter]

...but this kite will no longer carry any paying passengers...

A photo of the "make-shift repairs" and more details/updates on the fate of CityJet Fokker 50 OO-VLE at Rotterdam can be found at
http://airnieuws.nl/fokkernieuws/FOKKER ... tlist.html

[Comet]

I flew on holiday on OO-VLE back in 2007 (it was called "City of Southampton" then). Sad to hear about this damage.

[stratofreighter]

Last Sunday the 17th of July the damaged CityJet Fokker 50 OO-VLE flew its' last ever flight, which was to Norwich.

Photos made during the departure of this aircraft from Rotterdam readily show why OO-VLE became an "economic write-off" when her main landing gear accidentially retracted.
See http://airnieuws.nl/fokkernieuws/FOKKER ... tlist.html for these images and more information.