Brithish Airways Airbus aborted landing at Heathrow

[Steve Carlton]

Storm Corrie brings gusts of winds as high as 92mph in London. Yikes! The tail scraped the runway. How close to a crash was this?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/127662178/scary-moment-plane-hits-runway-in-aborted-landing-at-uks-heathrow-airport

[flatbutt]

I had a similar incident at Heathrow years ago. We had a normal flight from Europe and were on our final descent thru a dense layer of cloud cover. I was looking out of my window and could see as we broke thru the clouds that we were at maybe 5000 ASL when all of a sudden we accelerated up up and away! The pilot came on the PA moments later unsuccessfully stifling a slight chuckle but with classic British aplomb and explained "sorry for the excitement folks but someone quite carelessly placed another aircraft precisely where I wished to land this one" (words to that effect). To my surprise the cabin burst into laughter.

[GH85Carrera]

As kids on windy days we liked to ride our bikes out to the end of the runway and watch the crosswind landings. Of course the B-52 with the swiveling landing gear was the coolest, but mostly they had C-130s at the time at Maxwell AFB. It is great fun as a kid to see landings with a major pucker factor for the pilots.

[ted]

Called a go around and a tail strike.
As an ATC on days with gusty crosswinds we would see some great landings and some others.

[gordner]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Storm Corrie brings gusts of winds as high as 92mph in London. Yikes! The tail scraped the runway. How close to a crash was this?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/127662178/scary-moment-plane-hits-runway-in-aborted-landing-at-uks-heathrow-airport

Believe it or not, tail strike/drag performance is part of the design certification of the aircraft. They actually do it on purpose to failure to measure how much damage it can take. Quite a sight to see. They take way more damage than you would think possible and keep ticking.

[john70t]

I'd rather be in a now-tail-dragger aluminum tube, than a cargo ship in rough seas.
(because those things will snap in half)

[gordner]

Ship break up vids are terrifying, I cannot imagine enduring that slow motion catastrophe in the middle of rough seas.

[stevej37]

A rattle-can of silver paint and it's ready to go again.

[Steve Carlton]

Scraped tail and tires flat-spotted on the sides is a badge of honor.

[Otter74]

Exciting, but not close to a crash. Friend of mine who flies (FO) 320s interpreted:

the airplane touches the right main first, it hops, and then it sets down both mains. Look at the wing and you'll see all the spoiler panels go to "half brakes". This happens when you have main wheel spin-up without the strut being compressed. The airplane is trying to get itself to settle so that it can go to "full brakes" on all the spoiler panels, unlock the reversers, and apply the autobrakes, if selected. But then the aircraft gets pushed by that gust, it rolls left, the airplane says, "**** I'm flying" and closes the brakes. Then the pilot sets TO/GA thrust and pulls the stick, planting the tail, and they go around. There is a delay from idle to TO/GA so presumably, he slams the thrust levers up, and pulls before the engines respond.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Otter74

Exciting, but not close to a crash. Friend of mine who flies (FO) 320s interpreted:

the airplane touches the right main first, it hops, and then it sets down both mains. Look at the wing and you'll see all the spoiler panels go to "half brakes". This happens when you have main wheel spin-up without the strut being compressed. The airplane is trying to get itself to settle so that it can go to "full brakes" on all the spoiler panels, unlock the reversers, and apply the autobrakes, if selected. But then the aircraft gets pushed by that gust, it rolls left, the airplane says, "**** I'm flying" and closes the brakes. Then the pilot sets TO/GA thrust and pulls the stick, planting the tail, and they go around. There is a delay from idle to TO/GA so presumably, he slams the thrust levers up, and pulls before the engines respond.

Great stuff. Thanks.

[Steve Carlton]

Thanks, Otter! Skidmarks inside and out, I'm sure.

[A930Rocket]

Calling Jeff Higgins to explain tail strike damage and repair!

Edit: can you hear and/or feel the tail strike? What happens to the pilots when this happened? Did they get in trouble?

[shoemakj]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

As kids on windy days we liked to ride our bikes out to the end of the runway and watch the crosswind landings. Of course the B-52 with the swiveling landing gear was the coolest, but mostly they had C-130s at the time at Maxwell AFB. It is great fun as a kid to see landings with a major pucker factor for the pilots.

At 59 years old, I still do that at Maxwell AFB, on my bike. Okay, so I don’t hang out at the end of the runway, but it’s fun to watch them while I’m riding loops around the flight line. Thursdays seem to be when the C-130s from the 908th Airlift Wing practice. The only BUFF I’ve seen here in the past 10 years is the one on static display.

[pmax]

Bathtub's big.

Mile high waves when the big one hits.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

As kids on windy days we liked to ride our bikes out to the end of the runway and watch the crosswind landings. Of course the B-52 with the swiveling landing gear was the coolest, but mostly they had C-130s at the time at Maxwell AFB. It is great fun as a kid to see landings with a major pucker factor for the pilots.

I rode out and watched B-52's as a kid. They would land pretty sideways when it was windy. Big and loud, really loud taking off, like louder than a Ted Nugent concert, and he cracked the ceiling at Memorial Auditorium

[rusnak]

The bombers at the Castle Air Force Museum in Atwater, California are the main reason to go there. One of the docents explained to me how they land in crosswinds. The big one (B-52?) have a dial that you can use to rotate the landing gear until you touch down. This is because the wingspan is so wide, they can't tip the wing. He said the pilots look out the copilots window or their side window down the runway. I guess when you gotta land, there is not much choice. He said the smaller bombers will steer into the crosswind, and then straighten out once the wheels touch down. Crazy stuff.

[red 928]

titanium

[rattlsnak]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Calling Jeff Higgins to explain tail strike damage and repair!

Edit: can you hear and/or feel the tail strike? What happens to the pilots when this happened? Did they get in trouble?

Here is a video of the JetBlue tail strike a few days ago from the inside!

https://youtu.be/7TKAPAo602w

And they won’t get in trouble.. maybe go back for a sim training event, maybe not..

[Steve Carlton]

Since it was an Airbus, did the plane react to the crosswind automatically, or was that the pilot? I'm no expert, but I think the pilot did a great job.