Crabbing it in

[herr_oberst]

Ooh! New idea - runway mounted cameras, and send the video to the seatback displays so that passengers can actually watch their landing in real time!!!

[Jeff Higgins]

I spent darn near three months in Tokyo/Narita assisting in the repair of this one:

[t6dpilot]

That A380 squirrelly landing - IOE I'll bet...

On the TUI 757 landing, flaps did not come up upon landing. Those are left in landing configuration until clear of the runway and the after landing checklist is called. What you see actuating are the flight and ground spoilers that come out with weight on wheels to reduce lift. Oh and the Airbus does have ailerons along with flight spoilers and would have handled that situation just fine.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I spent darn near three months in Tokyo/Narita assisting in the repair of this one

I have watched that landing ten times...I am light on fixed wing time (700 hours) but have a whole bunch of time landing on the back of small ships at sea in helicopters and a good amount of flight test time.

Was there a mechanical failure or is that just pilot induced oscillations?

In any event, interesting air frame loading.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I spent darn near three months in Tokyo/Narita assisting in the repair of this one:

Next time it's pressurized, it will stretch the wrinkles out.

[HardDrive]

"Sorry Takagi, you're not getting a Christmas bonus."

"Why?"

"You bent an airplane. An airplane full of people."

"Oh. Right."

[Jeff Higgins]

Wind shear induced oscillations. Narita is infamous for its wind shear. Mountains too close on the inland side, sea too close on the other. We've repaired other structural damage caused by hard landings at that airport. We are, of course, not allowed to share. The only reason I can post this video is because someone else caught it and it's in the public domain.

Oh, and yes - we do actually "inflate" the airplane before we turn it over to the customer. We run what we call a "high blow" cycle on them wherein we pressurize the cabin to ensure that, well, it can actually do that after the repair. Nothing worse than a leaky airplane...

[flatbutt]

The first time I realized that even a massive airframe like a 777 is like a leaf in the wind was flying the polar route from Heathrow to NYC. We spent a lot of time in a head wind and we got tossed around so much you'd have thought we were in a Piper Cub! I gained ALOT of respect for aircraft engineers that night.

[john70t]

I flew on a short hopper airplane (in Greece i think) with about a 1ft deep indent in the tube in front of the tail horizontal.

It's like the plane was backed into something, the aileron replaced, and then sent out to fly with a little bit of new pre-set trim.

[93nav]

Can you give us any details on what it takes to fix that 'wrinkle'??

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I spent darn near three months in Tokyo/Narita assisting in the repair of this one:

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by 93nav

Can you give us any details on what it takes to fix that 'wrinkle'??

Unfortunately, no. I can only share what is in the "public domain", like this video. Airlines and their insurance companies are pretty sensitive about this kind of thing. Understandably so.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by 93nav

Can you give us any details on what it takes to fix that 'wrinkle'??

A wicked-good PDR guy.

[dentist90]

Even when successful and relatively smoothly executed, these yawed landings must rapidly wear tires and bend landing gear? Harsh enough in a straight line...
Can only assume unscheduled inspection in order after that

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I spent darn near three months in Tokyo/Narita assisting in the repair of this one:

Wow, just had a chance to look at this Jeff--incredible. I flew through Narita probably 50 times, and I can attest that the approach is scary. When I first started going to Japan in 1992, we flew on Delta MD11s. I was once sitting next to a pilot who was deadheading, and I asked him why all the landings were so hard there. He said the MD11 tail feathers (third engine in the rudder) were configured so that there was basically no elevator control for the last 50 feet off the deck. So it just sort of fell. I told him I'd once seen a ceiling panel fall, and he said it was common with that plane. I'm definitely no expert, so forgive me if this sounds technically off--it's memory from a long time ago. Anyway, it was cheery to know that as we went in, me gripping the seat with knuckles of white. And yes, it was a hard landing.

On 777, we used to call Md11s "Scuds"--once they took off, you never knew where they were gonna land. I think they've pretty much al been converted to freighters.
Any MD11 jockeys here to confirm or deny any of the above?

[Nate2046]

Originally Posted by dentist90

Even when successful and relatively smoothly executed, these yawed landings must rapidly wear tires and bend landing gear? Harsh enough in a straight line...
Can only assume unscheduled inspection in order after that

A lot of people have put forth that same question in this thread. Here’s the thing, the Boeing demonstrated crosswind components, which are NOT limitations, are carried out with zero slip. Landing using crab only is an acceptable method according to the manufacturer of the airplane. Also, consider that landing using only side slip will also place a lateral load on the upwind gear as it touches down.

Not sure why some are up in arms over this video. There’s no obvious violation of any limitations or regs. Looks like the pilot made a judgement call and had a good outcome. I don’t see the problem.

[911_Dude]

^^^^^ What he said. Tire wear is not really a factor. They are replaced as needed. And if you ever get a chance to look close at the landing gear on a modern airliner, they look like they were made for carrier landings. Very stout.