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Awful landings???

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My worst landing ever was in Corpus Christi at night in an EMB 145. The Captain forgot to turn on the landing lights during the approach checks. I never flared and just plopped right on. Afterwards, a man with crutches got off the plane. I asked the FA if he needed those before or after my landing.
 
It's all relative. I saw Tiger Woods miss a putt the other day, but he still won the tournament.

My landings aren't always perfect, but so far they all have been functional. Maybe I shouldn't spend so much time working on my putts (old SpaceBalls reference).

;)
 
...

I think the best landing dash is a fully loaded -300, calm winds, just using one finger tip for a flare, nice and smooth. But then it all goes to hell for some reason and i crash it in. no excuse. I think all my nicest landings have been on some early morning flight from a NC/SC/TN outstation to CLT on a decent morning. Maybe the -400s would be even better?
 
mrnolmts said:
While it is obvious she messed up, it's also very easy for us to be Monday Morning Quarterbacks here.
Oh, no, there is no Monday Morning stuff here. These were mistakes that ANY airline pilot should have acted upon.
I'd be surprised if either one of you can honestly say they've never made a mistake in their flying career.
That many? In one flight? That resulted in serious damage?
How many of you have had firm landings without reporting it? Question is, how hard does it have to be before a report is warranted? I'm not sure I know where the line is, are you? All I know is, I'd report it if I personally felt it was beyond "the norm", but it would still be a subjective assessment. Yours may vary greatly from mine. I am by no means saying she was correct in making the decision to not report it, because obviously she should have.
No way Jose. Don't try to exonorate them here with me. A TEN FOOT by THREE foot area, worn to the pressure vessel?!! How can you say it would be hard to assess, especially since the impact recording was 2.75 Gs!! You'd sure as he11 have the plane inspected if turbulence met that rate.
However, could it be as simple as her train of thought being "It was a hard landing allright, but we inspected the aircraft, and found no visible damage, so I guess it's ok"? Flawed as it turned out to be, I can see a few guys making the very same decision.
Read the full narrative, the FO, not the CA was inspecting, and the CA came out and hastened the inspection, to focus on the wheels.
Obviously, they should have noticed the tailstrike damage on the postflight inspection. However, notice that at least one other crew preflighted and flew the airplane without noticing, so maybe the damage wasn't that obvious?
Again 10' X 3' and worn to the pressure vessel! Looks like poor crewmanship on the part of BOTH crews. I bet the FAA would have seen it, so ALL preflights should be conducted as if the FAA were there.
I don't know.
I can see that.
Also, there were at least one positive here:
I think you mean there WAS at least one positive;)
She did inform the pilot taking the airplane the following day, who by the way, was a company check airman (!!!),
She was not aware of this, she simply placed a note to him, as many of us do, as a courteousy to the next crew.
and did not take the time to check the airplane out, nor did the crew who wound up actually flying the airplane out.
I am as stupified at this as you are.
I'm just having a hard time dealing with people putting other people down, when they were not there, and were not the ones making the decisions.
I think you need to put your emotions aside here. Airplanes are machines. They do not care who is flying them. Stalling a plane TWICE because you closed the thrust 300 above the ground is something that ANYONE who flies jets should know better than to do. Especially a CA. Sure, she had low time in the plane, which is why she should have listened to her FO, who had way more time in the jet.
But the CRM issues show a clear pairing of Type A (too overbearing) and Type B (too passive) here, which in my opinion had as much to do with the accident as the CAs poor airmanship. The CRM training at Mesa, which is minimal at best, was shortcutted (as shown in the training records) and the overlooking of TWO additional crewmembers who inspected the plane says something about the caliber of Mesa's training.
I say again, let's not get into the emotional "quit picking on them" stuff here. There are many lessons to learn here. They screwed up, big time, and have absolutely no exterior factors to consider. The weather was good, the plane was good, and ROA is really not that hard to fly into. Mesa has issues in crew staffing (both crewmembers came from the FO seat of the 1900), crew training (neither pilot recieved any instruction about swept wing aerodynamics) and supervision (need I bring up CLT?).
I know that any one of us may plant one tomorrow, but really, that is why we look into the screw ups of others. Not because we are so good, but because the person who had the accident just managed to have it before we did.
And let's not foget...the CA lied. She lied about the winds (way way WAY exxagerated), she lied about the inspection, and she lied about when she closed the thrust.
She also didn't know shinola about airport notes. "A go around is not an option"...
Those notes apply to TAKEOFF! It is illegal to operate 121 into an airport that FAR25 approach climb criteria can not be met. Also the wording "is not an option"...sounds like she is putting the discussion out right there (again the Type A persona).
I could go on for hours, but...
:beer:


Anyway, here's two for you :beer: :beer:
 
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Back in the day, I used to fly Jetstreams -- way back, when full flaps for landing were 40 degrees. Now there was a b!tch of an airplane to get a nice landing out of (luckily, they're built stout). In fact, the airplane was so bad at flaps 40, the only landing I still remember was the best one I ever made.

It was so perfectly smooth (okay -- it was a complete FLUKE!) that the F/O and I both panicked and did a quick check of the gear lever and lights. We both thought we must have forgotten to put the gear down -- we burst out laughing before the plane had even settled onto the runway, and were still laughing when one of the pax came up and said, "This airplane lands a lot nicer than Competitor Airlines' Metroliners -- are all your landings so gentle?"

"Why, yes -- yes they are!" says the F/O.
 
acaTerry said:
She did inform the pilot taking the airplane the following day, who by the way, was a company check airman (!!!),
She was not aware of this, she simply placed a note to him, as many of us do, as a courteousy to the next crew.
Leaving the note was the positive, silly! :)
Stalling a plane TWICE because you closed the thrust 300 above the ground is something that ANYONE who flies jets should know better than to do.
Obviously. However, stickshaker is not stall. If the airplane was stalled, I'm thinking the nose would have dropped first. Not saying it's ok to go to stickshaker by any means, just clarifying.
...and the overlooking of TWO additional crewmembers who inspected the plane says something about the caliber of Mesa's training.
Since I haven't trained at Mesa, I don't know. However, I *do* agree it seems suspect..
There are many lessons to learn here.
No argument there...
She also didn't know shinola about airport notes. "A go around is not an option"...
Those notes apply to TAKEOFF! It is illegal to operate 121 into an airport that FAR25 approach climb criteria can not be met.
Well, we actually have an airport here at QX (Sun Valley) where, if you get beyond a certain point, you are commited to land ("A go around is not an option"). Granted, it applies to single engine ops, but still.. A direct quote from the Q400 Flight Standards Manual:
"...Once below 5,700, you are committed to land"
My point is, there are airports where a go-around is not an option. Don't ask me how many, cause I only know of this one ;) Obviously, in this particular case, a go-around was not prohibited, so I can't argue your point regarding her making a statement that shouldn't have been made.
Finally, let me conclude by reiterating that I am not defending any actions taken by this crew. All I'm saying is that it's very easy to be a Monday Morning Quarterback...
:beer:
 
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Well i definetely can say I have had some bad landings in the dash but the worst landing I have ever seen was in CLT. A PSA crj landed nose gear first which was about the scariest landing I have ever seen. When I used to flight instruct, I had many students make 3-point landings but never a nose wheel first landing, and these guys/gals are professional airline pilots? Thats my rant!
 
In Alaska, I used to take the Navajo into a strip that was published as being 1800 feet long (it wasn't that long anymore) and made of gravel with a few soft spots. I always warned passengers who had never been in there before that a normal landing there may feel like more of a "controlled crash." You had to have it buffeting just prior to the threshold, drop it on and get it stopped, especially if it was icy. Coming back out was lotsa fun at gross weight. When you ran out of runway (hopefully at or above Vmca) you just had to yank back, suck up the gear and hope for the best. (The book says the airplane is capable. On PAPER.) With a river at one end, and trees and a slough at the other, we always knew if one engine decided to shart the bed, we'd pretty much be phuct. In the winter, we usually took off over the (frozen) river, at least then you could slide to a somewhat comforatble stop. I took a prospective new-hire in there on his "get acquainted" ride (no, he wouln't be assigned flying in there quite yet) he was real quiet all the way down final until about 100 feet I heard him slowly and quiety say "Ho-Lee Sh*t." Real quiet coming back out too, until we were established in cruise, and he confided that he was kinda surprised that had actually worked, and we weren't in the river. (I explained to him that that airport was considered a "special procedures" airport by the company, and only certain specifically-trained pilots were allowed to take that airplane in there, and that he would not likely be one of them for a few years.)

Another place we went was a private military airfield right in a box canyon with an NDB approach. The plate stated "successful go-around past missed approach point improbable."
Yeah, the minimums were really high, but we all banged a few in there, too out of necessity. You did not EVER want to land downhill there, (regardless of the wind, the slope was so steep) and I don't think you woulda outclimbed the hills during a VFR G/A while landing uphill. Aways took off downhill (and into the flatland) no matter what.

So, that's my excuse for my landings in the jet. I'm from the school of "Bang it on, get it stopped." Old (ok, BAD) habits are hard to break.
 
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Never forget the day we saw a CRJ clip the tip. Roughly 20 or so degrees of crab in until the fare. Some pretty good wing rocking as the rudder came in and at first we thought it was pretty dang close. Then, on there taxi in, we could see the lens covering the nav lights hanging down. Tower mentioned something in the handoff to ground. Then it was our turn to go...
 

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