The Queen of the Skies is one tough old bird. Lufthansa has confirmed what all 345 people onboard one of its 747-8s already knew when the aircraft thundered onto LAX’s Runway 24 on Wednesday. The airline said there was training going on when the plane hit hard and began to porpoise before the crew firewalled it for a go-around. The video was captured during Airline Videos Live’s streaming of the comings and goings at LAX.
The airline said the flight crew and maintenance had a look after the second successful try and declared the plane reusable for the return flight to Frankfurt. “Following an assessment by the cockpit crew, a consultation with the technical department on site and in Frankfurt and an initial visual inspection, the aircraft (registration D-ABYP) flew back to Frankfurt,” Lufthansa said in a statement. Maintenance staff will give it another going-over at the home base.
Ouch!!!
That touchdown after what was probably at least 9 hours aloft was admittedly not whomever’s finest hour. The safest response to seeing something like that has always been for me to say “it could have been me”. The most difficult maneuver in transport category aviation is a well executed go-around. Kudos to this LH crew for having put on a perfect go-around clinic. After touchdown!
I recall a humorous story recounted by an airline pilot flying a “heavy” into I think Atlanta, after a long flight. The landing was pretty hard, it shook a few people up. The flight crew were brave enough to stand at the door to say the usual “bye-byes” during exiting when an elderly lady passed by and asked the four-striper “did we land or were we shot down”?
😆
🙂 Squared !!
You sit so high up it is difficult to judge… At least managed (just) to have the nose wheels take the second bounce on their own…
Once, in the passenger cabin, had a three bounce landing at Johannesburg in an Iberia Airbus A340. Other passengers began grumbling about the state of roads and runways….
[Accidentally clicked on the much more prominent ‘Report comment’ link, sorry that was not my intention] I think the radio altimeter callouts should help consistently judge when to flare for a normal touchdown.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Los Angeles. We hope you enjoyed your flight with Lufthansa Airlines today. Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened while your Captain taxis what’s left of the aircraft to the gate.”
At first I thought oh what flight simulator game is this but no it was real. I cannot imagine what it felt like inside, I am sure all the interior was rattling and moving. I am sure the passengers were none to happy.
I suspect a proper hard landing check will find some issues; this is not a new aircraft in any case.
I was once present at a 727 landing which was truly awful; I was the F/O, and couldn’t get the Captain to record the event for maintenance action.
Visited the Chief Pilot due to the possible safety concern; he chose to ignore the issue.
The APU wouldn’t start on the next planned flight; the APU housing was broken!
The aircraft was then subjected to a proper check.
Modern aircraft have data available to check the “G’s”; from which a decision on checks can be made.
My airline once had a hard landing on an Airbus product that resulted in a landing gear change due to the G’s sustained.
The A380 landing at Oshkosh was notably bad; bet there was some damage there!
In more than 25000 hours, much of it as a Training Captain, I never again saw another landing equivalent to that 727 “Event”!
Looks a bit like the short field landing I tried to demonstrate to a student a couple of days ago… it’s true that you get a bit rusty sitting in the right seat (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).
I know enough German to imagine that “Scheiße” was said at least once on the flight deck.
Now that is one tough old bird. A testament to how Boeing use to build them I’d say.
“The airline said there was training going on ”
Who ever did that landing got a huge learning experience both in how not to land a 747 and how to do a well executed miss after touch down.
Many years ago I was on 747 that landed hard at Dulles. On the taxi in the cockpit announced, “Well, I guess they lowered the runway since the last time we were here.”
Does Germany have aircraft carriers?
I had the approach into West Palm Beach nailed from the right seat of a B-727. After landing, the flight attendant came into the cockpit and asked what time we landed. The captain said, “Well my clock stopped at 07”. No masks came down…
I did 6 day trips for Delta with 4 crossings, 2 of which were all nighters. The last leg was HNL-ATL arriving at 6:30 in the morning. It seemed we always landed east right into the rising sun. We had a relief pilot on board and this was always his/her leg on that 6th day because the F/O and I were exhausted. We never hit that hard but I saw some fairly “firm” landings. We always had an excuse….the sun was in my eyes, a gust of wind caught me in close……..
A little unstable in pitch and roll all the way, dropped nose in close. Grade it a CUT pass with bolter.
Having done my share of go-arounds all I can say is there but for the grace of God go I. And, botched landing notwithstanding, that 747 strikes me as one utterly magnificent behemoth of an airplane.
Yes, the 747 looks large when filled with seats and overhead bins. I remember the first time I saw one in a heavy check with all the interior removed. Immense is the word that comes to mind then. I could swear it echoed when we talked inside.
Nothing like the proud feeling of making the national news, I always say.
I’m sure training directed a gear retraction on go around but I think I’da waited until the crew discussed it OR a tower fly by for tire inspection. I shredded tire might have jammed the gear turning a landing gear incident into potential airframe damage or loss??
Anyone else find it really creepy that someone with a tripod camera is filming every landing at LAX?
Yes the collection of data, images, video, audio, and other clickbait, has replaced productivity in the culture of the USA
Amen. That has also replaced the culture of engineering with “maximizing Shareholder returns.”
Ethics monitoring of Congress (insider trading, etc.) has been a fail but I don’t expect anything will change until Congress is prohibited from stock trading.
What is creepy about tripod cameras?
One, from a security point of view; the other from a privacy point of view. Having a tripod means that he’s there for a long time doing this, like a police stake out.
Actually, means he’s using a long lens and wants a good picture.
Yea, of every plane landing at LAX. That’s what seemed unnatural/creepy to me.
It’s an international hobby. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_spotting
Plenty of time on his hands…
The stationary ones are going up all over the place too (interstates is what I had in mind).
I’m impressed by the tower controller on go-around: She slowed down and massively simplified — four separate calls one after the other: 1) Lufthansa 456 Turn Right… (ack) 2) Lufthansa 456 Traffic…. (ack) 3) Lufthansa 456 Maintain Two Thousand (ack) … 4) Lufthansa 456 Contact SoCal on 1 – 2 – 5 point — 2 (ack). She seemed to naturally know (and follow) a cardinal rule — even at the busiest of airports, and with the most well trained and professional crews…. when the pilots get busy… slow down and simplify.
I’ve seen worse. Wings barely flexed!