Landed at JFK sunday night in what was apparently some sort of storm (we were in Poland for a week so I had not followed the weather). The landing was by far the roughest I have ever experienced and was wondering if someone could enlighten (or frighten) me as to what was happening.

The details - we circled for about 60 minutes due to "traffic," then finally got clearance. We went well south of the airport (according to the map), then came in at about 2500 feet for a while. According to the map, our speed was only a little over 100 mph - not sure if I believed it. We took a lot of bumps, and then came into land with the nose down. At the last second, the pilot gunned the engine and pulled the nose up. Does anyone have any idea or experience as to what this type of landing means?

Then, of course, we were stranded in NYC for 2 days because our flight was cancelled. The best part was when United handed us a half sheet of paper with a hotel service # to call. Of course that number was busy.


db

Worst landing I ever had was an Air France flight from CDG to IAH. The weather was so rough the flight attendants took my wife in the back to their jump seats and were going to sedate her.

When we finally touched down, everyone on the plane burst into applause, even the flight attendants.

The flight display typically shows ground speed (which is what would interest a passenger) and not airspeed (which is what is important to the dynamics of flight). Consider that the airplane doesn't care how fast it is moving, but rather how fast the air is moving over its wings. This is why airplanes typically take off and land as close to directly into the wind as possible. If your Vr speed is 100kts, and you are taking off into a 25kt headwind, you only need to gain 75kts of speed on the ground to have the air flowing over the wings at 100kts. Winds in the NYC area were quite strong on Sunday night, so that's likely what happened.

On a related note, unless you are flying directly into the wind, there is a crosswind component when you are landing. This requires a crab (nose of the plane not pointed in the direction of travel, using the rudder to 'correct' the yaw) or a slip (basically, using the ailerons to correct the drift). When correcting for the crosswind, you will generally have the nose of the aircraft pointed slightly into the wind, with that wing slightly lower than the other, in a properly coordinated crosswind landing. You will touchdown on the upwind wheel first, then the downwind, then point the aircraft down the centerline of the runway and touch down the nosegear. The increase in engine thrust you heard was most likely the thrust reversers coming on to slow the plane down.

Well...apparently there was a lot of traffic ahead of you and the pilot had to wait 60 minutes for his turn and apparently there was some sort of storm which made the approach and landing rough. What exactly are you asking? Are you suggesting that there wasn't really other traffic or that the "rough" landing wasn't due to the massive storm?

Sorry - forgot to add some details. This landing was sunday night in NYC in the middle of the nor'easter that cancelled several hundred flights. What I thought was weird about the landing was that it felt as though we came in really slow, and then we came in at a pretty steep angle and hit the runway hard. I guess it was just the winds from the storm, but it was definitely a tough landing and was not fun. Also, when we landed the airport was almost dead, and I didnt hear any other flights land or take off while we were outside waiting for the taxis. I guess I'm spoiled by LAX where we don't have nor'easters.


db

It doesn't have to be a big storm. If the headwind lets up, the plane will drop faster. If the headwind increases, the plane will hover longer and require more runway to land. So if the runway length is marginal the pilot has to plan on putting down more promptly and you are more apt to get a bump on touchdown.

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On Sunday night I was listening to the JFK Tower. Both American Flt 806 and 141 requested go-arounds as the wind sheers were too difficult to handle. I presume if something as that bad for "heavy" jets the smaller ones were having even more difficulty with shear. This was about 10pm Sunday, maybe a little later or closer to 11 EDT.

A headwind will decrease takeoff/landing distances. A tailwind will increase them.

A minor point but we don't 'request' go-arounds. We go around and then inform ATC that we have done so.

Yes, it means that he/she needed to get it on the runway and stopped. There's no reason to try and "grease" it on during weather like that. Basically you put it down and get it stopped. It may be a little more uncomfortable than you're used to, but it's the safest way to go.