Posted on 03/03/2008 8:50:58 AM PST by Scythian
These people are lucky to be alive !!!!!
Video
See more at link at #20.
The cross wind was not that extreme, from what I see - about 25 degrees, well within tolerance.
But the gusts almost killed them all.
“Control Tower to Lufthansa flight, you’re cleared to land”..
how about that one? it could have been an unforeseen gust or it could have been steady. In any event, someone in the control tower needs a stern talking to..
I’d like to know how fast the crosswind was blowing. the article I read this morning said “gale-force” winds of 155mph..I think that was mistaken as 155mph is hurricane strength. It should have been 155kph or roughly 90 mph..even that is hurricane strength..
he circled and landed on his second attempt..
Pucker factor 10
Nonsense. The tower cannot tell a pilot to land.
Did anyone notice the the plane scraped his left wingtip after touchdown? the one thing a passenger never sees on a final approach ith the end of the runway. the ones on the left side of that jet got an eyefull of end of the runway. The other side got to see the other end. I wonder if the one videoing this landing got the final landing. And, btw, why were they there? Must have been shooting crosswind landings.
Worst transition from a crab to a side slip I can remember seeing. Is this guy one of those ab initio 300-hour pilots?
I want that pilot on my next flight.
It was a bad attempt from the get go, he was too far up wind. It only got worse from there. It is a miracle not skill that they got back in the air.
He was attempting to land with a high wind blowing in from the right side of the airplane, so in order to compensate for that, the pilot flies the airplane with the nose pointed a bit into the wind, and the plane literally flies a little sideways. Just before touching down, the pilot uses the rudders to swing the nose back around straight, so that the landing gear doesn’t have a lot of side stress placed on it. It looks like that when the pilot moved the nose over, the plane got hit by a hard gust that rolled it over and caused the left wingtip to hit the runway.
Once the crew realized (to their credit, very quickly) that things were bad, they went to full power and did a “go around”. It’s a good thing they did, because otherwise they could’ve ended up completely off the runway, probably with the landing gear torn off once they hit the soft grass, and at best you’re looking at an emergency evacuation with a few minor injuries and a badly damaged or totalled airplane (see the British Airways 777 in London earlier this year).
The question will now be, why did the pilot attempt the landing. It’s possible that the weather information given to him by the airport (Hamburg, Germany, btw) stated that the winds were within the allowable maximum crosswind limit for an A320, so he went ahead with the approach.
}:-)4
I do understand. I am a pilot. Go or no go is always up to the pilot when it gets down to it.
But it wasn’t the go or no go or the wind. It was a terrible set up on final that almost became FINAL.
A friend of mine is an airline pilot and tells me that those crosswind landings are an instictive thing but only a fool or a pilot without options will attempt a landing in a heavy crosswind like that.
Truer words were never spoken. It is totally up to the PILOT!!! ATC has NO say period...
Not exactly. I’m pretty sure it works the same way in the EU as it does in the US—the pilot in command of the aircraft ALWAYS has the final say. The tower can clear him to land, telling him that it’s all right, but if he doesn’t think he can make it, it’s his responsibility to tell the tower “no” and go around. It’s entirely legal for a pilot to disregard or disobey the instructions of an air traffic controller, but he’d better be able to prove that he did it for a good safety reason or he won’t fly again.
Now, maybe when the tower gave him the wind data, they were within allowable limits, and that was a freak wind gust. Or maybe he didn’t handle the plane correctly when he ruddered the nose to the left and that caused it to roll over. I’m sure the German version of the NTSB will be conducting a full investigation and getting to the bottom of it.
}:-)4
Yikes! When I saw that I thought that the pilot did a fine touch-and-go no matter what other mistakes might have been made.
I can only imagine what may have taken place with the passengers inside the aircraft. I would bet however that some on board had to wash a few things out. Additionally, I’ll bet there were a few non-believers praying their guts out, and a couple of stiff drinks had upon finally landing.
Old trick - radio the tower, say that you are “Inbound for landing.”
They can’t say no, unless the runway is closed for safety reasons.
I landed a hershey bar a Detriot metro that way - it made my son laugh, and piled up traffic for miles.
(Father forgive me, for I have sinned...)
There are old pilots. And there are bold pilots. But there are no old, bold pilots.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.