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Close Call for Lufthansa Airline Landing
- Thread starter Peace
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Exactly. The guy should be fired. That landing shouldn't have never been attempted. I don't know what the max crosswind landing on that aircraft is, but I'll bet that exceeded it. He's damned lucky he didn't kill most or all of the people on board.
what?! that's the first time i heard that. good service... I fly plenty of Singapore Airlines and they only hand out juice every now and then. I guess on a 10 hour flight they handed juice out about 6 times (from late afternoon/evening to dawn). Snacks, only once
but their food is good. They need money to pay the 19 A380s, 20 A350s and 20 B787s ordered.How ironic that lufthansa and other germans of the public transport sector are on strike right now (demanding a 8% raise).
back to the story.
they pilot did a great job, but:
1. should've diverted the landing to elsewhere
2. when it's approaching the tarmac and flying so skwely, should've aborted; but it's probably worth a go
3. he actually got the plane to align with the runway just a few metres above ground, but the wind blew and pressed against the left wing
4. then he aborted
it should be a relatively trained skill to pull the plane back up for a failed attempt; but if it were to be a bigger plane (ie. 777) i dunno if it's light enough to be so agile...
iSamurai, what part of Lufthansa are on strike? Deutsche Bahn (trains) striked for a few days last year but I haven't heard of any upcoming strikes... I don't know what's going on.
I heard today that the information the pilot got from the tower had the crosswinds within the aircraft limits (what they are, I don't know). Anyway, seems like he made the decision to attempt to land and it didn't work out
I heard today that the information the pilot got from the tower had the crosswinds within the aircraft limits (what they are, I don't know). Anyway, seems like he made the decision to attempt to land and it didn't work out
The U.S. is different from the Europe. I don't know anything about flying, but I've flown enough to know that yes, planes get diverted. Or they circle for an hour or two. But the U.S. is HUGE and there are airports everywhere. Europe is very compact and there are more planes per sq. mile in the air than in the U.S. I think it's a different type of call to keep the plane in the air or divert it to another airport, which may be in another country. I've never heard of planes being diverted to other countries except for 9/11 and other terrorist emergencies.
I'm not saying, it was a great call on the part of the pilot or air traffic controller. But people here are making it sound like it's unthinkable. Like I said before the storm came suddenly and intensely. And I think, had it not been for the gusts, it would have been a fine landing and no one would question anything.
That's been my experience too. And I like free wine. Even within Europe, I find them to be extremely friendly, certainly more so than the old hags that work with American.
iSamurai, what part of Lufthansa are on strike? Deutsche Bahn (trains) striked for a few days last year but I haven't heard of any upcoming strikes... I don't know what's going on.
I heard today that the information the pilot got from the tower had the crosswinds within the aircraft limits (what they are, I don't know). Anyway, seems like he made the decision to attempt to land and it didn't work out
Ver.di is on strike, meaning various public services workers including airport personnel and trash collectors. Only some cities will have train strikes. Public transport in Stuttgart will be shut down entirely tomorrow.
Thank god, it's not the S-Bahn here (different union, GDL). That was a nightmare back in the fall. Maybe it was a few days for you. But it was a nightmare everyday for me, getting up at the crack of dawn and not knowing if I was going to make it to work or not.
The ATC system in Europe is unified. I don't think they'd hesitate to divert fights away from unacceptable weather conditions. The investigation into this incident will no doubt focus on what was known about the conditions at the airport at the time the airplane attempted to land. I doubt the storm hit just as the airplane was 100 feet off the ground. You can see from the video that the pilot was compensating for huge crosswinds all the way down on final approach. He was probably operating on the hairy edge of the aircraft's performance envelope. Not a good place to be.
You must be a crappy pilot then, because ATC doesn't make that determination if conditions are too bad to land. They report the conditions and the PILOT IN COMMAND decides what to do. Thei airport authority have the powr to shut the airport down, but that's usually due to snow, lighting out of service, etc....wind and rain? Nope...decision to try and land in that is the pilot's call.
P.S. I hate the FAA too!
that deutsche bahn thing was last year when they went on strike with france, during the rugby 2007.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7278937.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/05/germany.strikes/index.html
also, the BA are going on strike because of the "Open Skies" agreement, as they'll get lower pay due to competition.
i feel sympathetic for pilots - they fly people to their destinations like driving cabs with wings, and they (the airlines) get criticised and if they go on strike there's more complaint. and when they do save lives (like this one), they dont even get publicised for their "heroic deeds" (this pilot's surname wasn't revealed due to some circumstances).
anyway.
isnt it after a certain point a line is cross and the pilot comitted to the landing. Or at the very leasts a touch and go.
He cold of crossed that point and knew it was going to be an aborted landing just he needed to have the wheels touch the ground to stop the downward motion and pull back up.
He cold of crossed that point and knew it was going to be an aborted landing just he needed to have the wheels touch the ground to stop the downward motion and pull back up.
You're not "committed" to a landing until off the runway after roll-out. Anyway, planes aren't so much landed as flown to just above the runway, and then lift is decayed until the plane is no longer flying.
A pilot can abort a landing at any time. Takeoff, however, is more along the lines of what you are thinking; once the aircraft reaches a certain predetermined speed, it's committed to flying even in the event of an emergency.
I don't understand why this is. I know it is true (as in the case of the Concorde) ... but don't most runways have the special type of concrete that will absorb the plane (where the plane basically sinks into the concrete) and make it stop if it overshoots the runway? So in the event of a takeoff, couldn't they just slam the brakes and then run off the runway into that stuff which would stop them safely?
At a takeoff speed of nearly 200mph, a sudden stop like that can cause just as many injuries as a crash itself.
I would hate to have been on this flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5prz1Ae5QM
Myself, I personally love turbulence and rough landings, but that BAE Avro flown by SWISS was very close to a disaster. LCY landings are so much fun to spot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5prz1Ae5QM
Myself, I personally love turbulence and rough landings, but that BAE Avro flown by SWISS was very close to a disaster. LCY landings are so much fun to spot.