A dc-10's right aft and left forward nose gear doors had brackets and hinges fail in flight which al...

Narrative:

Out of FL200; [we] heard loud noise and moderate vibration. We assumed that the air driven generator (air driven generator) had deployed. Upon arrival at the gate; maintenance informed us that the nose gear doors were open. We never received any alerts or indications of gear doors open or gear extended. Maintenance later provided this assessment of the damage: found the following items broken: on right aft door the aft bracket assembly that attaches to the strut is broken allowing the aft door to hang loose on the hinges (ref ipc 32-36-01-01). On the left forward door the rod end for the forward door link broken (ipc 32-36-01-01). Also on left forward door; the aft support rod; as well as the aft three hinges are broken (52-81-05-01). Suggest engineer investigation of failed parts to determine adequacy of inspection procedures and interval on nose gear doors.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A DC-10's right aft and left forward nose gear doors had brackets and hinges fail in flight which allowed those two doors to open with no indication except for an unusual vibration.

Narrative: Out of FL200; [we] heard loud noise and moderate vibration. We assumed that the air driven generator (ADG) had deployed. Upon arrival at the gate; Maintenance informed us that the nose gear doors were open. We never received any alerts or indications of gear doors open or gear extended. Maintenance later provided this assessment of the damage: found the following items broken: on right aft door the aft bracket assembly that attaches to the strut is broken allowing the aft door to hang loose on the hinges (ref IPC 32-36-01-01). On the left forward door the rod end for the forward door link broken (IPC 32-36-01-01). Also on left forward door; the aft support rod; as well as the aft three hinges are broken (52-81-05-01). Suggest engineer investigation of failed parts to determine adequacy of inspection procedures and interval on nose gear doors.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1036318
Time
Date	201209
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	DC-10 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Nose Gear Door
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A dc-10's right aft and left forward nose gear doors had brackets and hinges fail in flight which allowed those two doors to open with no indication except for an unusual vibration.