Why isn't gear retracted during 1st flights?

[triple7]

Hello,

It's always the case with first flights, the gear isn't retracted immediately like after a normal take off, we just saw it with the A380. What is the reason for doing so?

Enzo

[HorsePower]

Hello triple7, welcome to the forum!

The undercarriage wasn't retracted immediatly to collect some infos concerning the max speed with undercarriage extended, stall speed, etc...

Regards

Seb.

[luchtzak]

I read somewhere that the landing gear was retracted at 10.000 feet, must be somewhere in the 'a380 first flight'-topic.

[md95]

For aiplane flying for the first time it is easy to predict the aerodynamic behaviour, but something else is to check it in a real flight. That's why in the A380 case it was retracted only at 10000 ft, after the crew made the necessary checks and got a feeling of the aicraft.

[bits44]

You are all partially correct, in the case of the A380 however, the crew had a
landing gear warning light illuminated, indicating a partial lock of one of the gear, so rather than risk retracting the gear, and not being able to extend them again, they opted to leave them extended pending further investigation by engineers.

KT

[HorsePower]

bits44, you are mixing everything! The LG worked perfectly. when the crew retracted the LG, one door showed not close. Then the corvette aircraft went under the A380 to check it, and the door was perfectly close. Finnally it appears that it was the proximity switch who failed. So this event has anything to do with the fact that the LG were extended during the first part of the flight, coz it has occured after the LG were retracted.

Regards

Seb.

[bits44]

Sorry I was only quoting what Airbus reported, this has obviously been updated.

KT

[N5790S]

Now I am fairly new to aviation but when you think about it, you have just constructed a half-billion dollar aircraft, If you have engine failure, do you want to turn around considering it is the first flight, wouldnt you want to land it on some solid gear and not the belly. Remember, they didnt even know if it was going to fly about a year ago, and the last thing they want to do is crash it within the first flight. Now, this comes from a glider pilot with 30 hours solo time and probably not even half your age but think about it.