Chrisjake From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 843 posts, RR: 1 Posted (8 years 3 months 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 3572 times:
i notice that most (i think) airliners have something written on their nose gear doors. its either part of the aircraft registration, or ETOPS, or whatever.
why is this? ....and why there?
thx
chris
Well nothing's dead down here, just a little tired
Chrisjake From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 843 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (8 years 3 months 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 3489 times:
ok...i can see that it would be useful to the rampers to make sure the correct luggage, etc., gets on the right aircraft. but how is ETOPS useful to the rampers?
...its obvious i'm not a ramper.....
chris
Well nothing's dead down here, just a little tired
CitationJet From United States of America, joined Mar 2003, 2235 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (8 years 3 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 3446 times:
It is usually the ship number that the airline assigns to each airplane. The registration number (Nxxxxx) on the tail is too difficult to read when the airplane is nosed into the gate. The ship number is what the airlines use on their paperwork, such weight and balance, etc. The flight number changes many times a day for a given aircraft, but the ship number is permanent for a given airline.
A10WARTHOG From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 321 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (8 years 3 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 3380 times:
A/C reg. number is to help ground, pilots and mechanics ID the plane without having to walk to the tail of the A/C. ETOPS is important to mechanics. I have also see tire pressure printed on the doors.
RedFlyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 4181 posts, RR: 30 Reply 7, posted (8 years 3 months 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 3312 times:
I believe ETOPS on the nose gear door is important for mechanics because in order for a twin to receive and retain ETOPS certification, it has to be serviced differently than a non-ETOPS aircraft. One of those certification requirements is, I believe, that the same mechanic cannot work on both engines. This is to ensure that if proper servicing procedures are not followed on one side of the aircraft then the same mechanic won't repeat the same mistake on the other side of the aircraft, with the resulting potential disaster of losing both engines in flight.
UAcsOKC From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 107 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (8 years 3 months 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 3062 times:
Nose numbers on UA aircraft also identify the aircraft type, the internal layout, and the aircraft number in that series. Of course the ETOPS is improtant to mechanics, they see that and can automatically go into "ETOPS Mode".
I love the rumble of a 727 takeoff in the morning!
WJV04 From Canada, joined Jun 2001, 567 posts, RR: 4 Reply 10, posted (8 years 3 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2844 times:
Well i dont know why ETOPS are printed on the nose, but as a ramper for WestJet I can tell you why the tail number printed on the nose gear door helps.
Picture this...
Your on gate 50 waiting for one of our -200s, you see a 3 -200s comming in to the terminal right behind each other, you look on the report and gate 49 and gate 51 have -200s coming in as well. As they approach you look and spot out which one your waiting for so when the aircraft gets near the lead-in line you give the pilot the "This Gate" signal, so he knows to turn in.
TUGMASTER From Northern Mariana Islands, joined Jul 2004, 582 posts, RR: 10 Reply 11, posted (8 years 3 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2787 times:
One other piece of important info you'll find on most nose gears is a near vertical line, this tells the pushback how far he can turn the nose wheel when pushing the aircraft of the gate.
Goose From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 1840 posts, RR: 17 Reply 12, posted (8 years 3 months 11 hours ago) and read 2536 times:
Quoting WJV04 (reply 10): Picture this...
Your on gate 50 waiting for one of our -200s, you see a 3 -200s comming in to the terminal right behind each other, you look on the report and gate 49 and gate 51 have -200s coming in as well. As they approach you look and spot out which one your waiting for so when the aircraft gets near the lead-in line you give the pilot the "This Gate" signal, so he knows to turn in.
Most often the aircraft are given their gate assignment from Ops and they'll know where to go; the marshaller's signal is just a "line up facing me" so the pilot has a point of reference, if there's not a "tree" light bar for him to use (quite a few of the gates on the International Pier in YYC have these... or at least they used to. D32, D33 and D34 had them back in the days of CP)...
he only time the pilots mess it up and go into the wrong gate is when they neglect to read the gate numbers or get overzealous.....
Bohica From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2411 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (8 years 3 months 9 hours ago) and read 2461 times:
Quoting Goose (reply 12): Most often the aircraft are given their gate assignment from Ops and they'll know where to go
You are right about that. However there are distractions which happen and sometimes planes start heading toward the wrong gate. It does happen. With ship numbers painted on the nose it adds a level of redundancy so the ramp knows which plane to expect and make sure they are parked at the right gate. One plane parked at the wrong gate can cause an operational headache which can have a ripple effect throughout the operation.
PSU.DTW.SCE From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 6874 posts, RR: 29 Reply 14, posted (8 years 3 months 9 hours ago) and read 2441 times:
With Mesaba, the gear doors have the fleet number, and on the Saabs - the model type - A, B, or B+. The model type is important to know when calculation weight & balance, seating capacity, mechanics/mx's, etc.
WJV04 From Canada, joined Jun 2001, 567 posts, RR: 4 Reply 16, posted (8 years 3 months 6 hours ago) and read 2357 times:
`Goose~
Yes I am aware that pilots recieve their gate assignemt from ops.. However we are the kings of last minute gate changes (Aircraft is allready taxing in to the ramp)... so the pilots usually taxi to the gate but not to turn for the gate unless TAC is giving you the clear.
And those light tree systems, are in still in place, however the ground crew including ACA, GGNA, ATS never use them. I have seen them used maybe five times(?) in the year I worked at ATS.
Goose From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 1840 posts, RR: 17 Reply 17, posted (8 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2082 times:
Quoting WJV04 (reply 16): And those light tree systems, are in still in place, however the ground crew including ACA, GGNA, ATS never use them. I have seen them used maybe five times(?) in the year I worked at ATS.
I know, I've watched ATS and their predecessor CanCom get themselves into trouble many times, especially with widebodies, that could've been avoided had the lead in charge on the ground known how to use the light tree system. A few guys I knew who worked for ATS had no idea how to use those system, especially on gates like B24 and C25.
Back in the good old days we used them all the time.... especially with widebodies like A330s and 767s.....
COAMiG29 From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 515 posts, RR: 2 Reply 18, posted (8 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 2035 times:
Newark777 From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 9348 posts, RR: 33 Reply 19, posted (8 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 2024 times:
From a passenger's perspective, I love the nose gear numbers, because you can't see the reg # from the terminal, but you can see the front gear clearly. Makes it a lot easier to ID the aircraft you are flying on. I know this is not why they have the numbers there, but it helps me.
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