Hamburg - A320 nearly crashed during crosswind approach
- Thread starter Nitrof1
- 23 comments
- 1,063 views
- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
Autoland is probably not engaged under a bad-condition approach like that. I would assume that's all aircrew work. Nice job by those guys! The big gusts couldn't have made that any fun.
A pretty good crab angle but still nothing like the old downtown Hong Kong strip (since abandoned).
A pretty good crab angle but still nothing like the old downtown Hong Kong strip (since abandoned).
Joey D
Premium
- 47,537
- Lakes of the North, MI
- GTP_Joey
- GTP Joey
They should never have cleared that runway! They were supposedly experiencing 90KM/H crosswind gusts. I think someone working on Hamburg approach got fired yesterday.
Roger, Roger.
Do I have clearance, Clarence?
What's my vector, Victor?
Agreed, that was just foolish on the ATC's part. I don't know Hamburg airport though so I don't know if there is a run way they could have headed up/down wind into.
- 286
So, they don't have runways running parallel to the wind?
- 919
This took place during a storm - winds, especially higher than ground level, can shift chaotically during a storm. It's quite possible that during approach, the wind shifted violently and the tower or the pilots chose not to abort the approach.
- 20,145
- Australia
- VIPERGTS01
You can have some assistance like autothrottle and they still have the glideslope and localiser information but with crosswinds like that CATIII autoland is out of the question, really with those crosswinds any approach should have been out of the question unless in a emergency, like others said I am suprised they had clearance for that.
- 87,629
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
Runways are typically constructed so that planes can take off and land into the prevailing winds of the region. It makes life easier if you aren't losing airspeed because there's a tailwind.
- 29,378
- Glasgow
- GTP_Mars
I was surprised to see this footage on all four of the main news bulletins in the UK last night - BBC1, ITV1, C4 and C5 all used the same LiveLeak video as posted in this thread. Surely they could have gone to the bother of sourcing the original video? I wonder if the guy who shot the video is entitled to any money since he posted it on LiveLeak...?
- 7,666
Aerial image.
It looks like they were landing coming from the far north heading south into the terminal area. If the crosswind was perpendicular, they could easily have used the other runway, but I don't know what the wind direction was or how much it was varying at the time.
- 4,822
- Concord, CA
- kylehnat
Autopilots are not designed to handle severe situations. With gusty winds, it's actually better to have a human in control, since a programmed system would over-react to the rapidly changing winds.
Indeed. We have a family friend who was a 747 pilot for Northwest, and he says that any pilot worth his or her salt will always land the plane without assistance. For one thing, they want to stay in practice, but basically, they just don't trust the autopilot's ability to land a plane with 500 people on it.
The above pilot also said that landing at Hong Kong on a good day was as hard as it gets. With a crosswind...forgetaboutit.Duke
Which is why the word "crosswind" is a natural laxative for pilots. If there are strong crosswinds at an airport, that means that something awful is going on weather-wise. Normal winds would be parallel to the main runways.
- 20,145
- Australia
- VIPERGTS01
As far as I know (depending on airline policys) Pilots are not even allowed to land in LAND3 autoland configuration unless the weather is in the correct catogory. They have procedures and CATIII autolands are usually only used in bad fog and general low visability conditions (which are usually hardly windy at all).
The aircafts have been tested throughly by the manufactuers in high crosswind autoland situations and have been very successful but still have a much lower crosswind index limit. The autoland modes really do a good job in landing but are not used very often.
Yeah the sharp close right turn into final into Kai Tak airport was hairy even in good conditions, mixed with crosswinds was why only the most experienced large iron pilots were sent there, even then only at a rate of about once a month.
Yes, very true.
- 6,311
- Hong Kong SAR
I had a friend who lived in one of the last blocks of flats before the runway, just after the pilots hung a right at the infamous Kaitak Checkerboard. We used to sit on his roof BBQing and drinking beers while 747's went by us at eye level, literally a stones throw away looking like they were going to drop out of the sky. Good times. Sends shivers down my spine even now!
Not my photo, but some idea of what it was like, and this shot is at almost ground level. We were on the roof!
Robin
Premium
- 16,799
- United Kingdom
I had a friend who lived in one of the last blocks of flats before the runway, just after the pilots hung a right at the infamous Kaitak Checkerboard. We used to sit on his roof BBQing and drinking beers while 747's went by us at eye level, literally a stones throw away looking like they were going to drop out of the sky. Good times. Sends shivers down my spine even now!
Not my photo, but some idea of what it was like, and this shot is at almost ground level. We were on the roof!
Gosh it took some hell of skill to land at Kaitak... I remember being on the plane coming in to land and you could see people doing laundry on the roofs... maybe it was your friend!
The wouldn't let young pilots do it, only advanced pilots could do it. I can imagine in bad weather with crosswinds and also turblance it must have been the most scary thing turning at the checkerboard to come in for landing. The whole of Kowloon surrounded by mountains doesn't really help!
Despite all this not one plane has ever crashed in the area surrounding the airport..
Recently as part of the airbus A380 promotion a pilot flew the A380 down the length of the HK harbor at low altitude. It was properly dangerous.
I was actually in HK at the time and got up early to see it happen and bloody hell it flew past the flat window so damn close you could read all the small sponsors logos on the side... also you could hear it approaching especially when it went around the island then banked into the harbor past the IFC.... there was this menacing rumble in the distance and a whine as it banked. Then the front lights lined up and it was aiming strait for the flat!
was really amazing but didnt get any pictures though..
Robin
- 6,311
- Hong Kong SAR
Recently as part of the airbus A380 promotion a pilot flew the A380 down the length of the HK harbor at low altitude. It was properly dangerous.
I was actually in HK at the time and got up early to see it happen and bloody hell it flew past the flat window so damn close you could read all the small sponsors logos on the side... also you could hear it approaching especially when it went around the island then banked into the harbor past the IFC.... there was this menacing rumble in the distance and a whine as it banked. Then the front lights lined up and it was aiming strait for the flat!
was really amazing but didnt get any pictures though..
Robin
Oh really? Damn, I never knew about that. I would have been straight down to the harbour to get photos.
Cool!
