Awful landings???

[AirBill]

No hard feelings, man. Like was said above, you've got to have a sense of humor about it. I've done the full-compression test of the landing gear many times. You just laugh it off after a while.

You want to see something really funny? Go to climbto350.com and find the videos of Korean Air trying to land at Kai Tek.

 

[fxbat]

It’s better to plant it (plant not crash) with in 500 ft of the TDZ. Than hold it off for the greaser. Aerodynamic braking is not as effective as dumping the lift off the wings (spoilers) and using the brakes / thrust reverses.

 

[EDUC8-or]

I was holding short yesterday in a King Air at CLT, and we had to sit for about 10 minutes before we got out. While waiting, I watched a Piedmont airplane slam one on 36R after falling probably 8-10 feet. He floated and floated and floated, and then, BAM. I wondered if anyone had seen some really bad airliner landings from the hold-short line?

I've seen really bad landings in every type of airplane from the hold short line. Even a few King Airs! You should have been in Charlotte last week. Winds were right accross the runway at about 24 gusting to 36. I saw two of my own bad landings from the right seat that day! DCA was fun yesterday as well, gusts to 40 knots about 45 degrees off runway 1. We circled to 33 to make life easier. Just about everyone (73's, Airbi, Mad Dawgs) was taking 33 and stomping on the brakes. For the unfortunate few that landed on 1 it looked pretty interesting.

 

[lastout]

in his/her defense...

the dash ain't the easiest to land. i've had 20 year captains knock a few fillings loose(and i've certainly had a few that i'm not so proud of).

is it my imagination or do certain dash's @ PDT just not EVER land nicely?

 

[Homer Jay]

I slammed one into Cincinnati last week on my first leg of a four day trip with a Captain I had never flown with before. I looked over at him and said, "I guess since I forgot to flare you won't be signing me off for my solo." We laughed all the way to the gate! Come to think of it, that might explain why my back hurts!

 

[JECKEL]

Some of the worst stuff I've seen have been from guys with years upon years of experience.

I knew this guy in NC. Board member of the local flying club, 20+ years of flying, CFI ... the works, and man if that guy kept forgeting to put the gear down on the club's Mooney. Thank God for the gear horn. And when the gear did come down, he bounced the landing half way down the runway.
We won't even talk navigation.

Experience and position are not everything. They certainly do help, but if you do not continue to try to better yourself, those "slick" touchdowns will be more and more difficult.

 

[ksu_aviator]

I was sitting in a SAAB in MEM one day when I saw a landing that made me duck.

was one of those typical summer days. Hot as hell, thunderstorms popping up here and there and of course everyone is just trucking right along. We where actually waiting to park, lighting was reported in the area so the ramp shut down. We where facing the landing traffic, which at the time was landing on what is now taxiway Mike. I think it was listed as 17R back then, 18R was just being finished. Every other section of runway was paved leaving 50 ft gaps between strips concrete. The only approach was a localizer approach and the visibility wasn't great (2 miles or so).

Most got in fine, but one NW DC 9 lined up on the soon to be runway. At a very low altitude (I want to say about 50') they realized their mistake and tried to make 17R. I say tried, they actually made it to the runway and landed, but at one point I thought the wing tip was going to hit the ground. I was so convinced they where going to hit that I started to duck. They did manage to get the wings level just as the mains slammed onto the runway well past the landing zone. I don't know how they felt but they surely had to replace their undies afterwards.

So not every bad landing comes from regionals.

 

[HoserASA]

Landings, don't they ALL pay the same anyway?

hoser

 

[SLFLYHI]

I think the real point here is what defines a "good" landing. When I first started flying at my airline, I would always try to pull off a greaser. It made me feel good. I loved it when the passengers would clap, or say something positive when they were getting off. Most of the time, the guys/gals I was flying with would go along with my attempts, and some even tried to match my greasers....

All that changed when I flew with a 50+ yr old grandmother who happened to be a check airman at our company. I pulled off one of my amazing greasers and on the taxi in she said to me in her distinct southern drawl "that was the worst landing I've seen in a long time" What!?

She was kind enough to pull me aside and educate me that landing 2000 ft past the touchdown zone was unprofessional and unsafe despite what the passengers may have said. She said the mark of a true pro is to put the airplane into the touchdown zone every time regardless of how smooth or hard the landing felt. A little old granny with a two-pack a day Marlboro habit had reduced superpilot back to a subconscious student who could barely muster a sentence. And she was 100% right.

Since then, I put it in the TDZ no matter what. I've had a few stinkers and a few greasers doing this, but most landings are just average. I flew with her again recently and she told me how proud she was of my improvement and that she couldn't wait to do my Captain upgrade training coming up in a few months.

Being a pro means checking your ego at the door and not trying to appease passengers who don't know that "greasers" don't make a landing a good one.

 

[FlyingFerris]

words

What's wrong with trying to greasing it in the TDZ then? Of course the airplane I fly it's hard not to have a good landing, not that I haven't pounded one on now and agian.