Aircraft have multiple systems for safety. In this aircraft , there was an alternate way to check if the front wheel was down. This involved going below the cockpit (via a hatch) into a chamber called the "hell hole". In Flight 401, the hell hole contained a visual system (like a telescope) whereby one could check to see if the front wheel was indeed down .
The Captain told the Flight Engineer to go down into the hell hole to check the wheel position. That would have cleared the confusion as to if there was a fault with the indicator or if the wheel was actually not down.
Meanwhile the Co-pilot was trying to remove the light bulb indicator that got jammed when it was replaced the wrong way earlier on.
The Flight Engineer descended into the hell hole
(for clarity , please ignore text colored GREY)
Captain: Hey, hey, get down there and see if that damn nose wheel's down (telling Flight Engineer go under the cockpit floor to see visually , with a special system, if the front wheel was actually down or not). You better do that. Co-pilot: You got a handkerchief or something so I can get a little better grip on this? Anything I can do with it? (trying to repair the wheel down indicator light) Captain: Get down there and see if that, see if that # thing ... (telling the Flight Engineer again to go down to check if the wheel was down) Co-pilot: This won't come out, Bob. If I had a pair of pliers, I could cushion it with that Kleenex (tissue paper) (again trying to repair the wheel down indicator light) Flight Engineer: I can give you pliers but if you force it, you'll break it, just believe me Co-pilot: Yeah, I'll cushion it with Kleenex (tissue paper) Flight Engineer: Oh, we can give you pliers Air traffic controller: Eastern, uh, 401 turn left heading two seven zero Captain to air traffic controller: Left two seven zero, roger Captain: To # with it, to # with this. Go down and see if it's lined up with the red line. That's all we care. (telling the Flight Engineer to go down)# around with that # twenty-cent piece Microphone : * * *
The "hell hole" of a different aircraft. Normally only maintenance engineers on the ground would visit it. Notice the large black object and the two grey boxes on the shelves. Aircraft electronics such as radio, flight computers , etc are located in such units. This is where the "brains" of an aircraft are often located. When a defect arises , the maintenance engineers are able to quickly replace the faulty unit with a new one from their collection of spares. This speeds up repair time considerably. Airlines are always aware that aircraft on the ground don't make them any money, so the focus is to get the repairs done efficiently and quickly. Note that the black box shown is NOT the black box that is recovered after an aircraft crash. As mentioned elsewhere, that box is actually painted bright orange. In flight 401 ,the "hell hole" of the aircraft (Tristar) had a visual system as a back up way to check if the front wheel was down or not. (Photo thanks to Scott Kiel)
