Boeing 777 & 747SP Landing In Severe Crosswind

AirTalk.org ^ | June 14, 2006

[Eagle9]

The engineers design the landing gear system, goes up for a design review, gets manufactured, the maintenance people install it, ops check it, then jack and retract the system; but then Boeing test crews have to actually prove the design. Before the landing gear sideload limits gets etched in stone in the -1 flight manual.

So they sneak off to Brazil to do these tests at a certain remote BAF base famous for its continual atrocious crosswinds...

This is some good piloting by the test pilots in getting these planes down. For some people it looks totally unnatural for an aircraft that size doing that, and for others it’s a thing of beauty.

If you haven't seen these it's pretty cool to watch planes of this size crabbing in on a landing.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2581413167561676027&q=crosswind

[Eagle9]

The same video and other crosswind landings can be seen at the following link.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=crosswind

If you happen to view the version with Portuguese titles before each landing, go to the following link for a translation.

http://www.xplanefreeware.net/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t1201.html

[coconutt2000]

That is cool.

[Eagle9]

Ping

[Eagle9]

This is the description of the video given by the person who uploaded it to Google video.

__________________________________________________________

This shows the Boeing factory test pilots determining the demonstrated crosswind landing limits on the 777 and the 747SP. The engineers ... all » make educated guesses, but then the test crews have to go actually prove the numbers.

They sneak off to Brazil to do these tests at a certain remote BAF airbase famous for its continual atrocious crosswinds. Should the gear sideloads be excessive and fold one up, there is nobody there to take nasty pix for the Airbus guys to wave around in the press.

You think they might need a tire change after one of these landings? (And maybe a seat cushion change too!)

[FreedomCalls]

Cool! Thanks.

[garyhope]

I remember learning to fly gliders when I was a teenager and doing "slipping" in to quickly drop altitude, but doing it in a 747,...priceless! Amazing. Who are the pilots? Give em a hand.

[patton]

Wild - the last one looks like he is doing a VTOL.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

Aviation list crossed-controls ping ....

~GCR~

[Aeronaut]

[U S Army EOD]

What a bunch of good pilots, I would be willing to fly anywhere with them.

[raygun]

ping for aeronautic geeks

[The Westerner]

Unbelievable. The pilots handle those heavies like they're helicopters.

[phantomworker]

Graceful Birds!

[Chuckster]

My CFI showed me this just after I got my private certificate. I'm pretty good at crosswind landings now (In a cessna 172 or 206) but these guys doing etreme X-wind landings in those big jets are amazing.

[Jet Jaguar]

Those pilots have some cajones.

[cmsgop]

Thanks Buddy

[Central Scrutiniser]

SP is one of my favorite planes.

I drastically altered a vacation so I could fly on one. Did Capetown to Jo'burg to Frankfurt.

Bitchin plane.

[norton]

"You think they might need a tire change after one of these landings? (And maybe a seat cushion change too!)"

380 has lunched wheels and tires just trying to turn off the runway...
I don't have any info on seat cushions.

[MindBender26]

I'll pass on the TAP 321 driver. Check that one out.

[U S Army EOD]

I didn't see that one before I posted. That was a close one.