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-   -   Very hard landing (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1924054-very-hard-landing.html)

londonclubguy Aug 7, 2018 2:56 pm

Very hard landing
 
We had a very nice flight today to faro but had a query. There was a very hard landing with a long pause between rear and front wheels hitting tarmac and the aircraft did not slow for a considerable time and then jolted to a stop. Is this standard for the arrival airfield or could something have been amiss? We were a little jet lagged from our arrival yesterday from the US but it felt unusual to a landing we’d experienced. I thought for a moment or two we were not going to stop and had a problem.

Excellent crew and food on board although the product itself remains poor.

pacenotes Aug 7, 2018 3:19 pm

Dam auto land.

rockflyertalk Aug 7, 2018 3:28 pm

Possibly cross wind issues...putting the nose down is not an auto pilot part, is it?

David_Doyle Aug 7, 2018 3:31 pm


Originally Posted by londonclubguy (Post 30058542)
We had a very nice flight today to faro but had a query. There was a very hard landing with a long pause between rear and front wheels hitting tarmac and the aircraft did not slow for a considerable time and then jolted to a stop. Is this standard for the arrival airfield or could something have been amiss? We were a little jet lagged from our arrival yesterday from the US but it felt unusual to a landing we’d experienced. I thought for a moment or two we were not going to stop and had a problem.

Excellent crew and food on board although the product itself remains poor.

Probably an ex-RAF flyboy/girl that forgot they had passengers on board. Those Typhoons can keep the front wheels up quite a while when landing.

From 4:35

and also at end of


;)

mikeyfly Aug 7, 2018 3:31 pm

Thought you’d gone Gold to Blue !

THEOBCMAN Aug 7, 2018 3:39 pm

It happens. Even a friend of mine (BA Cabin Crew) actually thought his flight had crashed after a hard landing (A320 at EDI). He told me strong winds caused the pilot to force it down !!

rsak Aug 7, 2018 4:19 pm


Originally Posted by mikeyfly (Post 30058649)
Thought you’d gone Gold to Blue !

Ahaha that's exactly what I thought

PAL62V Aug 7, 2018 5:06 pm

If it was a wet tarmac then that would explain the slamming down of the wheels. Prevents the chance of skidding as the water is expelled from between the tyres and the tarmac more efficiently - according to a pilot mate of mine.

All She Wrote Aug 7, 2018 6:32 pm


Originally Posted by PAL62V (Post 30058873)
If it was a wet tarmac then that would explain the slamming down of the wheels. Prevents the chance of skidding as the water is expelled from between the tyres and the tarmac more efficiently - according to a pilot mate of mine.

It's unlikely at this time of year, although there were a few cells around France a little later today so perhaps they could have been unfortunate and had one there. Excluding weather as the cause an educated guess is likely a late & fast flare resulting in the wheels being essentially driven into the tarmac and possibly still a back stick input still being given at the time of touchdown around the time of spoiler deployment resulting in the nose being at a very high pitch attitude. Hence the gap between the wheels touching down. As for deceleration rate that was probably just a manual over-ride, Faro has a decent length runway (around 2500m from memory) and an A320 landing in the touchdown zone should have no problem stopping before the end with low auto brake and idle reverse (so presumably they were targeting an exit and realised Lo auto brake wasn't going to be sufficient and took over manually).

Mr.JimmyFlyer Aug 7, 2018 6:42 pm


Originally Posted by mikeyfly (Post 30058649)
Thought you’d gone Gold to Blue !


fredc84 Aug 7, 2018 6:48 pm

If he jolted to a stop, then that wasn't the auto-brakes. Auto-brakes deploy in a constant way all the way down to about 80 knots. Possibly, the pilot taking over from the AB's is what caused the jolt because in order to disengage the AB's (normally) you have to apply more pressure to the brakes than the AB's are in order to kick them off.

Having a gap between when the mains and the nose gear touch down doesn't necessarily mean anything...it's a common technique to 'aerobrake' where you use some of the drag caused by the wings still producing some lift to help slow the plane down. That is more of a technique, I've flown with a few pilots who do it all the time...if the runway is long enough.

RooseveltL Aug 7, 2018 8:41 pm

Cross-wind. Pilot lays down the rear cautiously (keep in mind in cross-wind laying down the rear may not be simultaneous vs. one side first and the other side follows shortly afterwards) and verifies contact + even before pushing down the front. However, this takes more time vs. normal landing so after success touchdown of the nose - must heavy break as runways aren't infinite.
What you described indicates your pilot did an excellent job vs. abort landing and go around again.

morges1 Aug 8, 2018 12:14 am

Loved the story of the US flight attendant on having a difficult landing at XXX - "Welcome to XXX, Captain Kangaroo will now bounce us to the terminal"!!

stuart_f Aug 8, 2018 2:49 am


Originally Posted by David_Doyle (Post 30058647)
Probably an ex-RAF flyboy/girl that forgot they had passengers on board. Those Typhoons can keep the front wheels up quite a while when landing.

OT but what you are seeing in those videos isn't related to a hard landing. Keeping the nosewheel off after touchdown is for aerodynamic braking. Both videos seem to be landaways and the pilot will want to avoid deploying the brake chute because there isn't normally a facility to inspect, dry and repack it away from home. The technique is also useful for landing on contaminated runway surfaces (snow/ice/standing water) since it relies on the drag from the high AoA to slow the jet down rather than wheel brakes which depend on friction from the tyres.

In the case of standing water or a crosswind a "firm" arrival is actually beneficial as it ensures the tyres spin up in the shortest possible time preventing aquaplaning or side skidding, it also reduces tyre wear. Contrary to expectations, 'greasing it on' significantly increases tyre wear as you drag the tyres for quite a long way (leaving impressive rubber marks) until they get enough friction to spin up.

PAL62V Aug 8, 2018 3:18 am


Originally Posted by morges1 (Post 30059706)
Loved the story of the US flight attendant on having a difficult landing at XXX - "Welcome to XXX, Captain Kangaroo will now bounce us to the terminal"!!

Then there's the story of the lady who, on seeing the captain as she left the plane asked, "Did we land...or were we shot down?"


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