AIRBUS A330 KEEPS THE GEAR DOWN AFTER DEPARTURE – A330, Boeing 777, B787 Departure

AIRBUS A330 KEEPS THE GEAR DOWN AFTER DEPARTURE – A330, Boeing 777, B787 DepartureThis Airbus A330 of Etihad just kept the landing gear down after departure. V1, V2, Rotate – Positiv rate of climb – Gear down. This procedure is extremly rare, but it` s quite normal. Especially during hot days some pilots keep the landing gear down to expedite the cool down process. Within the past 10 years this was the only time I saw a crew actually keep the gear down for that long after departure. About 10 minutes after the aircraft left the ground the pilots pulled up the gear.

Etihad used to operate two daily Airbus A330 flights back then when they cooperated with Air Berlin. After the closure of Air Berlin Etihad canceled one of its daily flights to Abu Dhabi.