A380 Landing

[Publishers]

I was looking at the pitch adjustments being made and it seemed on the small screen to be pretty significant. Also looked like once he had the mains down, he was in a definite hurry to get the nose on the ground.

 

[retired guy]

The heaviest machine that I`ve landed was about 380,000 pounds. Having said that, the approach and touchdown as seen on that BBC video looked about right to me. The pilot was doing a bit on pumping the stick down the final, but nothing that far out of the ordinary. I suspect that (1) it was a windy day and (2) he was at a fairly light (for the 380) weight. I`m just an old retired airline pilot and certainly no aeronautical engineer, so does anyone have an idea at to why this plane has such a monsterous vertical tail? It seems about one third too large. I`m sure the Froggies that designed it know what they are doing, but it really seems outsized to me. BTW iceman, the MD 11 doesn`t have much rudder, that`s why the low cross wind number.

 

[wmuflyguy]

My guess is to increase directional control if 2 engines go out on 1 side of the plane (those are massive engines).

That is jsut my guess...that depends on a lot of things that none of us know though.

 

[tomgoodman]

Big tail

.. does anyone have an idea at to why this plane has such a monsterous vertical tail?

To facilitate the "inverted ribbon cut" maneuver at airshows.