The title of this thread is a joke of course.

Was debating how to post this (or even to post it) but I figured why not. Without outing crew by posting the flight number, perhaps a fellow FT'er or two was on board the flight out of Cleveland today that had a really bad landing this evening. Think "two really hard bounces followed by having to go around after bouncing down the runway twice before bouncing a third time" bad landing. Another bounce, we probably would have made the news for not so good reasons. Pretty bad in the landing grade sheet.

And I'm not Monday Night Quarterbacking. I'm a pilot for the airline, but was a passenger on this flight so I'm allowed to sometimes grade landings, as compared to my landings, just about any landing ranks better.

Sometimes bad landings happen. They can be scary, I understand why most people got nervous after the second bounce and why a couple of passengers even let out a yell in the passenger cabin. I also understand why sometimes we see passengers who post how bad the flight was and want to know how a pilot could let such a thing happen.

Well they do happen, everyone is human. Ever drive right through a red light because you just aren't paying attention? It happens.

I happened to run into the pilot who was at the controls in the terminal after and let me tell you all, I haven't seen someone feel so badly about anything in a long time. I told him it happens, the Captain was trying to let him know it's not the end of the world, but trust me, he'll be thinking about this for a week. He kept shaking his head wondering how he bounced it so bad he had to go around. One bad landing that resulted in a go around out of a thousand good ones he'll have in 2011.

No metal was bent, nobody hurt, second time around, on speed and on centerline, great landing. But it was still something that shook people up.

So next time you have a rough flight, there's turbulence, there's a bad landing, whatever, remember your pilots are human up there. I think for the most part FT'ers are on planes enough and roll with the punches pretty well. If you've ever got a question about why something was done the way it was or why you landed hard, remember, on the ground, the cockpit door is open for a reason. Come in and ask. You don't even have to knock.

And on behalf of all pilots, thanks for not coming on here next time saying airline pilots need to learn how to land better.