Originally Posted by mark hughes

I'm not a pilot but was deadheading into ANC in the early 80's. We rolled up around 4am in the winter, only to see this 747 parked with the nose gear.

It was a load of 300 cattle going to JAPAN. They offloaded the cattle at an angle and put the cattle in the warehouse to keep them from freezing.

Then a crane was brought in the raise the nose of the aircraft.

What had happened was that the crew was receiving a light that the nose gear wasn't operating correctly. Maintenance put the pin/streamer in the nose gear to keep it from retracting while they tested it. Of course, it was a windy evening and apparently the pin wasn't fully in place. It blew out while they were testing the gear!

Link to a photo of the 747 (sorry, I don't know how to just make the photo part of the note and faq's didn't help.)

https://ibb.co/gNvH1G