Originally Posted by
aa73
Johnso, do you guys over at NWA (oops I mean DL lol) have that limitation where you can't crack the buckets until the nosewheel is down? That was a biggie on the Mad Dog here at AA b/c you could drag the clamshells on the runway if the nose was too high. Same case on the -9?
73
We do not, but a limitation was just recently changed and I think it is to line up with the DAL Mad Dog procedures.
If the runway is NOT contaminated we can deploy them before the nosewheel touches down, but have to wait for the nosewheel to touch in order to spool them.
If the runway IS contaminated we must wait until the nosewheel is down before we can deploy them.
My guess is it has to do with how the clamshells can hinder the aerodynamic effectiveness of the rudder. I don't know if DAL has the same limitation as AA on their Mad Dogs, as they are much longer then even a DC-9-50.