Cross Winds and wind shear

SteveR_100Milers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4OxGkmvPng

in the news today...presenter Sian whatshername on the 6 pm news exclaimed that the pilot should be given a medal!! WTF! what on earth weas he doing trying to land - the yaw angle on finals suggest that it is way over the rated max for crosswind landing. Either he or the airline needs a massive rap on the knuckles, it seems to be the current trend to land whatever the wind speed. Ive had a few flights into Europe this year in Avro RJ85's into ridiculous crosswinds, especially at BHX. Its going to end in tears soon....

geoff_ss

I can only assume a gust tipped the windward wing tip as he straightened to touch down. There was certainly a lot of yaw on the final approach. Without knowing all the facts it's difficult to judge whether the pilot was justified in making the attempt. I bet the passengers on the port side had an interesting view of the runway.

Having said that, it looks like a typical landing attempt for me - though I'm a pilot who keeps his feet on the ground. I walk towards my crashes with a plastic bin liner to collect the debris - it's healthier than being carried out

Geoff

el_presidente

when you're paying minimal price for a ticket and the aircraft is doing 6 or 7 trips a day then a go-around is bleeding cash from the airline's bottom line. hence risks being run.

I used to fly in and out of Jersey, LCY and the IoM on turboprops, I used to hate the landings when you could see the runway out of the side window

Lagavulin

I saw this a few days ago and thought it was perhaps a bit extreme trying that. I've seen some crosswind landings performed suberbly before, noteably some 777 demos I think are available on YouTube. Tiso ne just looked like it was going to go wrong from the off.

I've tried some stupid things in FS9 and FSX, in Dash 8's, ATR's and even 747s but I reckon I - sitting in the comfort of my bedroom - I'd' of bottled that with a press of TOGA.

when you're paying minimal price for a ticket and the aircraft is doing 6 or 7 trips a day then a go-around is bleeding cash from the airline's bottom line. hence risks being run.

So by offering cheap flights that gives SqueezyJet and PaddyAir the right to play chicken on finals with lives because they only paid a few quid plus airport taxes for their flight?

I saw a link to a photo which stated the airline involved was Lufthansa (who I've flown with) though so any justification by me for avoiding the budget airlines on the grounds that they takes bigger risks appears to be null and void.

fluff.

Would if be the tower rather than the airline that cleared him to land though? Looks like the pilot did pretty well in the situation, ie gust hitting him as he was almost down.

venster

fluff. wrote:

Would if be the tower rather than the airline that cleared him to land though? Looks like the pilot did pretty well in the situation, ie gust hitting him as he was almost down.

At the end of the day, it's the pilot's descision to land or not. Each airline and aircraft type have their own cross wind limits. Air traffic give the pilot the wind and then's it's the Capt's decision whether to make the approach or not.

It does look like he was unlucky with a gust in the flare and did extremely well to get out out of it unscathed....

robbarker

Here's how it should be done...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdi-hnFrmag

My wife, who works for Airbus on the A380 programme, tells me this was to get sidewind landing certification, so that must be close to the design limit!

SteveR_100Milers

The indspeed was 35 knots gusting to allegedly 100 kts (Timesonline reports 155 mph "gust")

35Kts is close if not over the cross wind capability of the A320 (which is sparking furious debate on pprune), ultimately the decision to land is the pilots once he has clearance from ATC.
ATC has absolutely no influence over that final decision, and can only advise on weather conditions during final approach and landing.

Lufthansa is far from a budget airline...its another example of risk taking for the sake of saving some money.

Lagavulin

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

Lufthansa is far from a budget airline...

Sorry. More than aware LH aren't a no frills airline. Worded badly on my behalf. :oops:

SteveR_100Milers

and rereading your post, it makes sense first time round!