Originally Posted by
DAL4EVER
Its been awhile but I will try and draw on my old 737 knowledge. There is a small tube looking device that is right below the gear well. If it gets cut for any reason it is supposed to relieve hydraulic pressure I believe and cause the gear to extend. In theory, a shredded tire would strike this device and cut it off. The gear would then extend back down. This would prevent a shredded tire from affecting gear status while retracted or prevent shredded tire fragments from coming in contact with a hot brake. You had to make sure this was intact on every walk around. Kind of an ingenious device. However, any current 737 pilot may have a better explanation than me.
You pretty much nailed it. Its a frangible do-hickey. Even if you didn't have this low tech, yet effective device, you would never want to raise gear with a blown tire unless you absolutely needed to (ie. obstacle clearance) because the tire debris may get hung up and the gear may not come down.
PS. ACEV8R - The only dumb questions are the ones your wife/girlfriend etc asks even when its obvious you aren't paying attention and then you have to come up with an answer that does not give away the fact that you have no idea what she just said.
Scoop