DUDE, WHERE'S YOUR GEAR?! FedEx MD-10-10F N559FE - gear-up on KORD approach into RWY 28 [10.20.2012]

PLEASE READ: While planespotting outside Chicago O'Hare International Airport ( KORD / ORD ) with OHAREAVIATION, we both caught this slightly off-putting sight of a Boeing MD-10-10F, registration number N559FE ( cn 46930 / 112 ) on final approach for Runway 28 with its gear up just short of the airport! Most planes have the gear down MILES before the point at which I started recording!

From my house's deck, I can clearly see planes on approach for runways 27-Left, 27-Right, 28, and 32-Right about 8-10 nautical miles away from the airport lowering their gear shortly after lining up and acquiring sight of the airport. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked to see this and now I can share this with the world.

Notice just how close the crew lowers the gear in relation to the airport. I wonder if it was just a case of human error, i.e. forgetting to lower the gear (which, to me, seems very hard to do), or whether the gear had to be manually lowered due to being stuck. In any case, the plane here went "three green" (reference to the indicator lights in the cockpit showing the position of the landing gear: red = gear up / locked, amber = being lowered / raised / "in transit", & green = lowered and locked in landing position) way too late. As excited as I was to see this, I hope to never see anything like this again.

FYI: The MD-10 is very similar to the MD-11, whose many nicknames include "Scud" - because you never really know where it'll land once you launch it - Mechanical Disaster 11, and "she who won't land."

This was FedEx Express Flight 309 from Memphis International Airport ( KMEM / MEM ).

Flight FDX309 Information:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N559FE/history/20121020/2025Z/KMEM/KORD

N559FE has recently visited:
Denver Int'l ( KDEN DEN ), Salt Lake City Int'l ( KSLC/ SLC ), Memphis, Int'l ( KMEM / MEM ), Miami Int'l ( KMIA / MIA ), Rickenbacker Int'l ( KLCK / LCK ), Newark Liberty Int'l ( KEWR / EWR ), Metropolitan Oakland Int'l ( KOAK / OAK ), Houston Bush Int'ctl ( KIAH / IAH ), Indianapolis Int'l ( KIND / IND ), Los Angeles Int'l ( KLAX / LAX ), Acadania Regional ( KARA / ARA ), & Chicago O'Hare Int'l ( KORD / ORD ).

©Copyright 2012 joseg2143 - Chicago O'Hare Int'l Airport ( KORD / ORD ) Plane Spotting / Aircraft Spotting

Recorded with a Canon PowerShot SX40HS on Saturday, October 20th, 2012.

Видео DUDE, WHERE'S YOUR GEAR?! FedEx MD-10-10F N559FE - gear-up on KORD approach into RWY 28 [10.20.2012] канала Chicago Airport Spotter