Lufthansa gusts..

[wallacej]

.. They say the pilots kepts their cool.... I would like to know if they (reporters) were in the coughpit... bet it wasn't that cool.


German airline says pilots averted major crash

 

[Shano]

I saw this on the news this morning. No doubt the passengers would have been a tad concerned. It actually looked like the left wing tip scraped the ground.

 

[Travel Guru]

The wing actually did scrape the ground prior to the pilot instigating a go-around.

Exciting stuff...I always get the boring flights!! :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

TG

 

[Keith009]

No doubt the passengers would have been a tad concerned.

I'd have been a lot more than 'a tad concerned' had I been a pax on that flight. :shock:

 

[QF WP]

Even my wife commented on the video this morning ... that was a close call, the initial touch down was off centre but the re-corrections and left wing scrape would have had me changing my pants when it stopped at the Gate.

 

[Shano]

What surprised me most about this incident was how late the pilot left it before deciding to do a go-around.

He was clearly struggling with the winds, yet persisted with trying to attempt the landing.

I am not being critical as I have absolutely no piloting experience, but thought under those conditions the landing would have been aborted far earlier.

 

[simongr]

I guess he realised perhaps that as the winds were strong for some time that he would have to land eventually.

I think even I might have looked up from my book during that landing - would have been awfully hard to write the notes for my trip report in that

 

[globetrekker]

What surprised me most about this incident was how late the pilot left it before deciding to do a go-around.

He was clearly struggling with the winds, yet persisted with trying to attempt the landing.

I am not being critical as I have absolutely no piloting experience, but thought under those conditions the landing would have been aborted far earlier.

Shano,

Looks fine to me. The plane looks like it was fairly stabilised on the approach (ie. tracking the centreline, on glideslope, less than 5deg bank needed for corrections etc) till about 50'. Below that, after he had kicked the drift off, it looks like he hit a gust of wind which has the effect of increasing lift in the right-hand wing, causing the plane to bank left and the left wing to scrape. So, I don't really see him going around sooner.

Whether he should've attempted the approach to begin with, well that can be debated. Conditions were definitely hairy that day crosswind component was anywhere between 4kts gusting to 9kts (27012G28KT), to 22kts gusting to 37kts (30030G49KT).

Either way, looks like he made a good job of a bad situation.

 

[straitman]

Shano,

Looks fine to me. The plane looks like it was fairly stabilised on the approach (ie. tracking the centreline, on glideslope, less than 5deg bank needed for corrections etc) till about 50'. Below that, after he had kicked the drift off, it looks like he hit a gust of wind which has the effect of increasing lift in the right-hand wing, causing the plane to bank left and the left wing to scrape. So, I don't really see him going around sooner.

Whether he should've attempted the approach to begin with, well that can be debated. Conditions were definitely hairy that day crosswind component was anywhere between 4kts gusting to 9kts (27012G28KT), to 22kts gusting to 37kts (30030G49KT).

Either way, looks like he made a good job of a bad situation.

globetrekker,

I don't agree with you. The aircraft had considerable drift prior to 50 ft above touchdown and should have gone around by at approx 100ft when he had somewhere near 40deg drift.

I'm not sure what the landing direction actually was but remember that a 30deg wind off the nose gives you a 50% crosswind component.

I do agree that he made a good job of a bad situation but that he probably put himself there in the first instant.

 

[globetrekker]

Fair enough. I guess that comes down to the criteria one uses to define stabilised approach.. and in fact what DLH uses, and their xw limits.

I agree that the pilot probably brought it upon himself. More so for an overcorrection to the increase in crosswind (at the 32 second mark), and decrabbing into a slight against-wind bank.

 

[straitman]

Fair enough. I guess that comes down to the criteria one uses to define stabilised approach.. and in fact what DLH uses, and their xw limits.

I agree that the pilot probably brought it upon himself. More so for an overcorrection to the increase in crosswind (at the 32 second mark), and decrabbing into a slight against-wind bank.

Interesting that LH is now publically praising the pilot. Though I would like to be a fly on the wall and find out what they really are saying behind the scenes.

 

[QF WP]

Two faces...they are happy the pilot didn't crash the plane and lose lives and the cost of a new plane; but I'll bet they have hauled him over the coals for not aborting and doing a go around..