A hairy landing

[Brian Noldt]

From 9news.com.au

A passenger plane has made a precarious landing in the UK after being struck by a strong gust of wind just moments before touch down.

The aircraft of budget airline Flybe was minutes away from the tarmac at Birmingham airport when its pilot was unable to control the steering of its landing gear, sending it hurtling towards a nearby grassy area.

In video footage of the incident, seconds after touching down the plane veers dramatically to the right with a crash looking all but certain.

With just metres to spare, the plane's pilot appears to regain control, slamming on the breaks before pulling the plane back on track amidst a gust of smoke from the landing gear tyres.

A spokesperson for the airline told the Mirror the steering was temporarily affected by a "strong cross wind gust".

It is not known how many passengers and crew were on board at the time of the incident.

YouTube video by user 'flugsnug' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9nmrcHbQ8g

[Hugh Jarse]

Looks like a poorly-executed/controlled croswind landing to me.

[Adrian B]

Dumb question from the peanut gallery. Are the rudder and nose steering connected / synched at all speeds, or does nose wheel steering come into play at or below a certain speed?

I note the hard Left rudder from 22 seconds to 52 seconds and still see the a/c veering right after the first excursion?

[Hugh Jarse]

There's no such thing as a dumb question.
Yes NWS is engaged whenever the steering switch is on (gear down), Adrian. However, you only get around 8 deg either side of centre (from memory) with the rudder pedals alone. The tiller gives you full steering (70 deg either side) but is not normally used above around 70kt IAS.
What you see is 'weathercocking' into wind. Proper control technique can minimise or completely overcome it. IMO, that landing was doomed from about 100' AGL.

[Brian Noldt]

Hairy landing Mk2

News item from Mirror.co.uk

A pilot was forced to abort the landing after approaching the runway sideways and touching down for a split second
This pilot was caught on camera attempting to land his plane in strong winds as storm Barney battered the UK.

He was forced to abort the landing after approaching the runway sideways and touching down for a split second before taking off again and performing a go around procedure.

In the footage the CityJet pilot is trying to land at Cork Airport in Ireland yesterday.

He struggles to keep the plane level as it is hit with strong gusts and crosswinds.

The plane can be seen sideways as it touches down briefly, before the pilot pulls up and aborts the landing.

The passengers had boarded the flight at London City Airport and moments later the pilot attempted the landing again and brought it down safely a few minutes later.

video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDqN7ww1-kQ