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Plane battling winds at Heathrow nearly topples over
As storms buffet the UK, footage has emerged of a pilot pulling off a particularly challenging landing -- but not before the plane appeared to nearly topple over and scrape its tail on the runway. British Airways flight 1307 traveled from Aberdeen to London on Monday -- but the 80-minute flight had a bumpy ride at the end. Coming in to land at Heathrow, the plane -- an Airbus A321neo -- was visibly buffeted by winds, before touching down on one wheel, bouncing up and down again, tipping… (www.msn.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I'm not a pilot but here's what matters most to me in this story. They got on to the ground without any damage to the aircraft and or the occupants. Could things have been done differently? Probably so but then again, it could have ended much differently as well.
My compliments to the driver for going around. This has - obviously - happened before. I recall a go-around on a Shuttle flight from MAN into LHR in the last century. We came in, touched, rolled along the deck nose-high then opened the taps and went around.
Silence from flight deck for about 15 minutes until PA finally opened - apologising for the fact that those at the front had been unable to accomplish what those in the back had achieved - making contact with the ground. Ten minutes later we were on terra firma, docked at the terminal and everyone had a good story to tell.
Quite rightly a pilot is never questioned about his/her decision to execute a go-around.
Silence from flight deck for about 15 minutes until PA finally opened - apologising for the fact that those at the front had been unable to accomplish what those in the back had achieved - making contact with the ground. Ten minutes later we were on terra firma, docked at the terminal and everyone had a good story to tell.
Quite rightly a pilot is never questioned about his/her decision to execute a go-around.
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Agreed. That he was able to get out of a sticky position is commendable, but he should have considered going around before it got to the point he had or almost had a tail strike. They way that plane was bouncing around on short final should have been clue enough that landing would be a bear.
Been on Alaska MD-88 into ONT during a Santa Ana. Captain told us it’ll get bumpy over the Cajon Pass. A big understatement. We came around to line up from the west (first clue), started descending over Pomona, over the threshold of the runway8L, and the captain can’t get the plane on the ground. I was sitting right in front of the engines so I can hear the engines throttling, we’re tipping left and right, and the captain aborts the landing. Now he has to reconfigure and get us airborne again. I never heard a Mad Dog’s engines rev that high. It was a roller coaster getting altitude again. Overhead storage compartments were flung open, crap rolling down the aisles, and people screaming. We ended up diverting to LAX. ONT closed for the evening.
After the flight, I hung back to talk to the captain. I asked him how his knuckles were doing. He held them up and said “Still white”. He said they were well below max landing speed in a headwind but suddenly winds gusted to 90mph. Obviously that’s why everything was diverted to LAX after that. Glad we had what appeared to be a senior captain flying us that night.
After the flight, I hung back to talk to the captain. I asked him how his knuckles were doing. He held them up and said “Still white”. He said they were well below max landing speed in a headwind but suddenly winds gusted to 90mph. Obviously that’s why everything was diverted to LAX after that. Glad we had what appeared to be a senior captain flying us that night.
I have watched the video several times and I am still not quite "getting it." I mean, yes, kudos to the pilot on getting the plane up and going around, tail drag and all... but it seems like the pilot never committed to landing as opposed to going around. It almost looked like the old DC-9 approach with the nose slightly down as the plane came in. The flare looked fine, but then the pilot never pushed the nose forward. The problems appeared to have induced more by the hesitation of the pilot than any wind. For what it is worth, everything looked great up until the decision to go around. What am I missing?