Fokker 50 landing gear collapsed

[alltheway]

Tuesday evening May 10th at Rotterdam/The Hague Airport a Fokker 50's gear collapsed while the airplane was standing still, with only a maintenance guy onboard (might be playing with the gear lever?)

Picture here:

http://www1.airliners.net/photo/CityJet/Fokker-50/1917523/L/

Looks like it has some damage near the nose, behind the door and crown of the airplane, I would fly it, but not higher than 8,000 feet or so....

[NoMad]

Aren't there are squat switches or similar interlocks that should prevent the gear from attempting to retract or unlock on the ground.  I mean, if a piper cherokee has it, one would think the heavy iron does too.

[alltheway]

beats me, the manual says:

"The main gear doors open and close mechanically by the main gear struts. When extended, the main gears will lock mechanically."

That is with a spring locking mechanism as you can read attached:

[FrequencyChange]

That is strange. The F-15 has a Weight On Wheels (WOW) electrical switch that disables the landing gear handle while the aircraft is on the ground. That is the only aircraft I've ever worked on, but I would assume that would be a standard feature for a landing gear system. In fact, some "hotshot" pilots would even put the landing gear handle in the up position while on take-off roll so the gear would retract as soon as the aircraft left the runway. Obviously dangerous, but the point being the gear would not retract with when it detected weight placed on it.