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Airbus A330 Freighter Question

SXDFC From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 1795 posts, RR: 21
Posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 2451 times:

Hey Guys:

I was browsing through Airbus, and I noticed their pictures of the the A330F, which does seem to look pretty cool. I did noticed though this "bulge" on the nose gear, and I wondered why it has that, since the regular A330 doesn't? Is this because it might have the ability to "kneel" down to the ground? I wonder if Fedex is going to look into this since they have the A300F as well.

ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.

2 replies: All unread, jump to last

Moo From Falkland Islands, joined May 2007, 2988 posts, RR: 4
Reply 1, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 2432 times:

Quoting SXDFC (Thread starter):

I was browsing through Airbus, and I noticed their pictures of the the A330F, which does seem to look pretty cool. I did noticed though this "bulge" on the nose gear, and I wondered why it has that, since the regular A330 doesn't? Is this because it might have the ability to "kneel" down to the ground? I wonder if Fedex is going to look into this since they have the A300F as well.

The standard A330 design has a downward slope to its 'rest' position - the nose gear is shorter than the main gear, resulting in a slight nose down position on the ground. Airbus added a longer nose gear to the freighter model so that ground handlers have an easier job of moving freight up the main deck when loading - the main deck cargo door is located at the front of the aircraft, so if Airbus didn't lengthen the nose gear, the loaders would be pushing uphill to the back of the aircraft.

Hope that answers your question.

WingedMigrator From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1944 posts, RR: 57
Reply 2, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 2409 times:

Quoting Moo (Reply 1):
Airbus added a longer nose gear to the freighter model

Not quite. Airbus kept the same nose gear, and modified the airframe so the attachment point is lower. This is what results in the chin bulge.