Iceman

Don't forget how SMALL Germany is!

This storm was all oevr Germany!!
In Hamburg, the conditions were better for that runway, than for the other runway they have.
Another airport... Well, even if the wind would have been coming from the front... their problem was the very last moment when they tried the touchdown, they experienced a sudden strong wind gust!

Anyways, the pilot in command is 39 years old, the female co-pilot 24. She was at the controls, while he had his hand on the throttle levers for a possible abort. So they were pretty aware of the bad weather conditions and did what they are there for.
It is funny to see what a big thing the media is making out of it now.
The passengers didn't even noticed what happened, until they saw the video on TV.

Media...

Rudy

I understand what you're saying about the wind and the gusts but I still wonder how the chosen runway was the favorable one since it had what looked like a crosswind (with gusts) that didn't change direction.

Most airports have multiple runways arranged perpendicular (or almost perpendicular) to each other so that crosswind landings can be avoided as much as possible. When you land into the wind, a wind gust is actually your friend -- when you land in a crosswind, the gust is clearly not your friend. (Actually, when landing into the wind, a sudden drop in wind speed is what you fear since the plane will have less air moving across the surface of the wings so it will generate less lift.)

The following airport runway diagram from Hamburg shows the arrangement of the runways. As you can see, if one runway has a crosswind, the other one doesn't. That's the part I don't understand...was the other runway closed or something?



As far as the pilot being ready for an aborted landing (go around) with his hand on the throttle levers, I think that's pretty much standard procedure on any landing...not just one in severe weather.

For sure the media played the hell out of this incident but you have to admit, it was something you don't get to see every day so I don't think you can expect them to not show it. I find it hard to believe that the passengers had no idea anything was up during that landing. That was no ordinary, run of the mill landing!

Iceman

Black arrow is the wind, red arrow the landing direction.

The conditions for the other runway were worse as you can see.



They had a massive amount of aborted landings that day in Hamburg.

beaker

I highly doubt that. That thing was rocking and rolling - I'm sure almost everyone on that plane was keenly aware of everything that was going on.

beaker

A pilot has the option of requesting a landing on the other runway, but if there is already an established pattern (i.e. a lot of other people on final), or if people are taking off on the other runway, they will put the requestor in a holding pattern (read: lots of fuel burn) until they can configure things for a safe landing on the other runway.

As a 777 pilot told me once, things like that are called a "Justify your job to your boss" call, just like an aborted landing. Pilots like to avoid things like that. Obviously, if there is an emergency then the pattern is cleared without issue. I had that once on climb out... my engine died, so I just banked left and did a short approach onto the other runway - no muss, no fuss.

If the pattern is clear and your controller is cool you can request "figure eights" - takeoff, short approach onto the other runway, takeoff, short approach onto the first runway. It's fun, but you can actually get a little motion sickness after awhile.

Iceman

That's what passengers said two days after the landing on TV interviews.

All they noticed was the wind, and that the approach was a bit uncomfortable, but they never felt unsafe.
The runway incident with the left wing touching the gorund... they didn't noticed... they said...
The second attempt was a big surprise for them.

andy545

Although I wasn't on duty that day, I managed to get the weather data (TAF):

EDDH 011220Z 29028G48KT 9000 -SHRA FEW011 BKN014 07/05 Q0984 TEMPO 29035G55KT 4000 SHRA BKN008

wind is given as a constant 28kt from 290 degrees (landing runway 23) and gusting to 48kt

airbus a320 max demostrated crosswind component for landing : 33kt gusting to 38.


they are just within limits -- the crab looks good but the transition into the slip doesn't go too well, considering the conditions not surprising - the aircraft should touch down with the right side undercarriage at this stage - they touched down close to the intersection with the other runway and caught a swoosh of gust at the worst moment. The airbus is pretty sensitive as to the technique used here. Pilots decided to land on runway 33 later minus 1 winglet. AFAIK, Lufthansa only uses the constant x-wind component and not the gust for x-wind component calculations.

Had the wing dug into the ground soil, this would have been very nasty indeed.

AlexFW

A sort of :

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=NrFnYmUB5ho

BizyB

Apologies ipp, you are absolutely right. Couldn't resize it, but I've got rid of it now so it doesn't cause anyone any problems. Will get around adding discription of my cars instead soon, when I have the time - as the id suggests, I'm always busy. Thx.

Rudy

Thanks for the additional details Andy. I was wondering when you were going to chime in here...