Warbird Information Exchange

...you've got to see this. This pilot doesn't make enough money. He flat-out kept everyone on this aircraft alive.

Moderatorfolk...I know this isn't warbird-related (other than the fact that warbirds used to bomb Hamburg, where this happened), but I thought it was amazing enough that it warranted higher visibility than it might get elsewhere. That being said, please feel free to move accordingly. Would this be considered base theater material?

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Scary stuff!



Sure!

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Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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Yes, but not before trying to kill them all first. The pilot's only sound decision - albeit nearly too late - was to execute a go-around. The pilot clearly does not apply rudder to align the aircraft with the runway until the wheels nearly touch and when he/she does so, does not apply coordinated wing down aileron into the wind. Hope the cockpit crew were wearing brown pants.

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What's the crosswind limit for one of those things? Those engines hang down awfully low - might be why he didn't want to dip his wing with his rudder input...

If the wind was above the limit for the aircraft (which it certainly appears close, if not beyond based solely on the video - despite the fact he did land the second time), his first foolish decision was to attempt the landing in the first place...

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Daddy always said, "If yer gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough" and I'm one tough sonofagun!

Makes one wonder what the tower was reporting for winds.

I have video from the early 90's of Randy Sohn attempting a landing at Crites Field in Waukesha in B-17 "Sentimental Journey". The crosswind was very strong, and it was all PIC Sohn could do to prevent a groundloop. Still rolling fast, he applied balls to the wall and got airborne for a go-around. With anyone other than Randy at the wheel, I think the plane would've been toast.

When he landed (into the wind, thank you), Randy wanted a copy of my video to show the folks back at the Arizona Wing. He told me that the tower informed him the winds were "15 gusting to 20". Yet in the video, large trees are clearly seen bending back-and-forth in the breeze...maybe 30 gusting to 40! It's a scary piece of video. Ditto on the brown pants/flightsuit comment.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

News articles are saying that the Lufthansa jet was landing in 155 mph winds. I wonder why the pilot attempted to land in those conditions and didn't divert to an alternate airport or orbit untill the winds subside.

155? He could have landed across the runway

Steve G

I agree with you both. I think that pilot was flat out stupid. Why risk lives like that? Was he out of gas? He didn't want to miss his slot time? Imagine what people inside must have felt.

Well 155 mph doesn't make sense to me. Every news media hurricane story has to have the obligatory reporter standing in a wind tunnel to look silly. At 155 mph, the men filming this landing would have difficulty standing, much less holding a camera. Perhaps something was lost in translation, like 155 kph, which is 96 mph? Still not a very comfortable crosswind.

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"They done it, they done it, damned if they ain't flew." December 17, 1903

I don't buy 155 mph either. Maybe kph, but that is still some pretty intense winds!

155 mph is an F2 category tornado, almost F3. So I agree with you. It must be 155 km/h.

Over at PPrune (professional pilots rumour network) they have a discussion going on about it - wind was 290º at 35kts gusting to 55kts at the time of this. They were landing on rnwy 23. Someone posted that the airbus has max xwind capability of 33kts gusting 38. It is unclear if that relates to a direct x-wind?

Unless it was wind-shear--though I believe these would be more associated with summer down bursts and not winter storms.

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"They done it, they done it, damned if they ain't flew." December 17, 1903

I experienced that once flying into vegas....it scared the hell out of me cause it happened so fast....I did survive though with a new respect for crosswind training!

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P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget.

I don't give the pilot credit at all for being good. Even as high as 40' to 50', he saw exactly how much crab was required to keep the aircraft ground track aligned with the runway. It only got worse when he got down to within a few feet of the runway. All pilots know that the winds call out from the tower is not always timely or accurate, but rather an estimate of the average given out by the ATC folks. The pilot should have gone around much sooner. As a professional pilot, it's your obligation to go-around if something doesn't look right, even if you think you are within limits of the airplane. No sane airline pilot I know would even consider landing an airliner with a crab angle of 30 to 45 degrees off runway heading, even if the tower reported the winds as calm.

That pilot had a serious lapse of judgement and needs to get remedial flight training on how to land in crosswinds. I would never want to fly on his airplane as a passenger after seeing that video.

My two cents.