A terrible approach to landing. Good aircraft bad Piloting!!

Gotta wonder what the flight attendant said afterwards....if she could still speak?

It's a video that makes pilots cringe and prompts airline passengers to question the wisdom of flying on regional carriers. A Swiss BAe 146/Avro RJ four-engine jet made a rough landing at London City Airport, slamming onto the runway under what appear to be crosswind conditions. The 48-second video then shows the regional jet skidding and bouncing to a stop.

Good landing gear they put on that aircraft...!

At my airline we ended up having to fire a Carrier Qualified Naval Pilot due to his inability to land in a cross wind. His landings with the MD-80, even after 3 times more training were never as bad as the one in the following video!



And this is the way it should be done...wonderful cockpit scenes to landing

Ouch!! Glad I wasn't on that plane... Let's be fair, it is right next to the river and I've had issues with my car in high winds when I'm crossing a river and it's only about 5' tall. And the conditions probably wouldn't have changed no matter how many times he went around.

But still... Ouch!!

I would have loved to have been on that flight.

flying today is soooo boring. ran by bean counters with pilots reduced to mere robots.

If you want real excitement try a winch launch glider flight. thats good fun

diddy1234
I would have loved to have been on that flight.

flying today is soooo boring. ran by bean counters with pilots reduced to mere robots.

If you want real excitement try a winch launch glider flight. thats good fun

There is allot of truth in what you said. The push button aircraft has taken many of the stick and rudder skills away from the current crop of pilots. I am really glad I retired when I did for the guys who are my generation complain to me all the time about guys who can push buttons with the best of them but when it comes to hand flying, weak or marginal seems to be the norm in far to many cases.

That first one brings real truth to the saying that landings are just very well controlled crashes. lol... That one sure was. Wow... I wonder what that kinda of slam into the runway would feel like inside? I think I might kiss the ground when I got off that plane. What a ride!

Bouncy bouncy bouncy

reply to post by 727Sky


When I was doing my private pilot lessons out of North Las Vegas airport, we had some rough crosswinds!! I remeber doing some crazy landings like that in a cessna 150. talk about being blown around. From what I remember the cross wind were around 21-25 knots. I about pissed my pants...

Good thing the landing gear held up, and the tires didnt blow out. That could have turned into a really big problem for the passengers and crew. Ive seen on a video, when aircraft tires of that size blow out, its like a bomb going off, and can seriously damage the aircraft, or anyone unlucky enough to get hit with flying debri.

Although the actual touchdown was rough, I believe that the approach is what is called "slipping". Its when you come in at an angle to counter the effects of a strong cross wind. When I was into the "pilot lessons" thing it was one of the things taught. Made me nervous as all get out though!

reply to post by 727Sky


He held the crab too long. It's always hard to judge when to straighten out, especially if you have too high a descent rate. Too high and you can get pushed off centerline, too late, and that happens.

One of the things that I loved about the B-52 (the 747 has this too), but will screw with your mind something fierce, is their ability to crab.



The first time you watch it, what goes through your mind would be autocensored by the board.

whats that saying..any landing you can walk away from is a good landing..lol
i bet heart rates were pretty elevated for that landing

reply to post by Zaphod58

Yep dial a steering on the Buff was a major deal along with some of the dial-a-yield nuke bombs.. Thanks for the video..

When crabbing and converting to a slip in a bad cross wind ( the ground cushion you expect may not be there) an excessive sink rate can develop. Easy to correct for 'by power or increasing the flare' (usually a combo of both) but you need to be aware of the possibility of getting the sink and be ready to correct; this junior bird man was caught off guard.... he did flare, but to little to late with the power.

Sink rates and mass were some of the biggest differences between flying small aircraft verses something that weighs 150,000 to 200,000 pounds upon landing. Anticipation and experience can't be replaced in something's regardless of how good the simulators are..... IMO

reply to post by Zaphod58


This is my local base, held its last airshow last week, will be an army base next year, should be fun with a 1000 grunts in the local night clubs

reply to post by weemadmental


I swear Leuchars was having its last airshow in 2011... And then 2012... So maybe they will have a 2014 one!!