Plane Makes Heartstopping Landing In 150 MPH Wind Gusts

Amazing new video today of a Lufthansa jet, flying from Munich to Hamburg with 137 passengers, veering back and forth in 150 mile per hour gusting winds. The plane came within "a split second of crashing" and after just touching down, a wing tip hit the runway and the plane bounced sideways on the runway. The now-hailed pilots shot back up, tried again and landed safely.

Watch:

A german plane had a near miss when it tried to land in gusting winds. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1438502008http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1178199204

Comments

[KindAndThoughtful]

Wow! What a great pilot.

[EvoMan]

Well, that's debatable. A truly great pilot wouldn't have gotten into the situation in the first place.

[PdotBdotB]

As a former Navy pilot I can say with near certainty that there's nothing to debate. These guys were being ridiculously foolish for even attempting this landing.

[kevin4obama]

Geee, I guess he would be god to be able to control nature and stop all winds.

[shanester]

Was the pilot sober?? LOL

[A Meat Beetle]

Are you?? LOL

[AnnArky]

I'm sure they'll be replacing most of the seats in that jet before it flys again!

[cabgx2]

That was my first thought also. I wonder if the flight attendants were passing out clean underwear after the landing?

[PrdAmerican]

I was on a plane that did the same dang thing in Alaska...talk about a come to jesus moment for the passengers!

[PigsOnSoma]

Does anybody know how much of the decision is up to the air traffic controllers. If they give the go ahead for a landing, wouldn't they have more information on the wind speed on the ground?

Also, it looks as though there was an unexpected gust at the very end. I've seen planes come in sideways on windy days, but they don't start tossing about like that so close to touch down. Seems to me their commitment to land was already in motion.

Of course, I might have considered another airport for the second landing, but then there might have been fuel issues as well, especially after having to take off again.

[grisgris]

I'm guessing wind shear was to blame.

[apduncan1]

Do you know what was going on in Europe that day??? The weather was bad all over... what choice did he have?

[Earl]

Stay on the ground until the weather gets flyable.

[nosuchperson]

Nothing is up to ATC. They advise. Their advice carries a log of weight in inquieries as in "I told that stupid shit not to land." I am sure this conversation will take place very soon. Perhaps not in those words...

BUT. EVERYTHING IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PILOT IN COMMAND. NO ONE ELSE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SAFE OPERATION OF THE AIRCRAFT, IT IS ALWAYS THE AIRCRAFT COMMANDERS 'FAULT' IF THINGS GO BADLY REGARDLESS OF ADVICE FROM ATC.

Run out of gas? Pilot's fault - inadequate preflight - didn't check fuel and carried inadequate suply for the flight. Wing falls off? Pilot's fault - inadequate preflight - pilot is responsible for checking every nut and bolt. Hit a mountain? Pilot's fault - didn't maintain proper clearance from obstrucion - failed to stay on assigned airway. In a legal sense, EVERYTHING is pilot error. That's the way the air regulations are written

This is true even if ATC had saidto the pilot, "It's just a little zephyr. I command you to land that aircraft!"

There should be law suits, and criminal prosecution against the aircraft commander for reckless endangerment and the attempted murder of 137 people.

Hero? Piffle. Lufthansa is going to bleed over this one.

[MajorKong]

I'm sure there will be an inquiry from the German equivalents of the FAA and NTSB as well as from Lufthansa itself.

[PigsOnSoma]

Laws can be black and white, but as far as I know there are 'act of god' clauses in any insurance policy.

Say the pilot lines up for approach behind 20 other planes, none of which have a problem, only he is then hit by a gust. Of course that is purely hypothetical.

From what I read in the Hamburg papers, there were several planes that took off again on approach due to gusts, but this was the only one that had an impact. If this was that bad, they should have considered closing the airport.

[edinmaine]

First ... no way this was 150 mph wind. That's a hurricane. Possibly a 50 mph (43 knots) crosswind gust, which would still be too much. I've landed a straight-wing Navy P-3 in 35 knot crosswind, which is the limit for that aircraft. Hairy, but doable provided the wind doesn't suddenly gust above the limit. It's even hairier in a swept-wing aircraft.

From the video, it looks like the pilot's crosswind technique was good but he (or she) encountered a gust as he was kicking in rudder to bring the nose around. The advancing starboard wing gained lift while the retreating wing lost lift, partly because some of the downwind wing is blocked by the fuselage. Applying right aileron arrested the roll, then the over correction caused the right wing to drop to the runway. After that, it's full power and hope the aircraft has enough performance to climb out of a very messy situation.

The captain deserves credit for saving the aircraft (with some damage) but probably deserves more criticism for getting into this mess in the first place. The thing that separates the best pilots from the rest is judgment, not stick and rudder skills.

[EvoMan]

I wonder who came up with the 150mph figure?

Good thing he wasn't landing at Midway. He'd have run out of room.

[JulieSA]

I saw an updated, corrected version of this story on another website, and the wind actually was gusting up to 56 mph.

[Stayalert]

Commercial jets are not allowed to land in winds at those speeds. In fact after 40 mph or so, all bets are usually off for landing. Diverting to another station or circling and hoping the winds die down. I would say as above pilot mentioned, the pilot deserved praise but much much criticism for attempting to land in these circumstances.
Had the same landing once @ 4omph and nearly lost a wing. Emerg crews stormed on board to view possible injuries after watching us land.

Airlines do NOT land anywhere near 45 mph, gusts probable.
Only in declared emergencies and even then, diversion is probable.

[Dorian]

When the winds pick up at the airport here in Vegas, everyone gets a free trip to Phoenix.

[GawdFraud]

If you want to see what a few commercial pilots have to say about this situation, use this link
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/showthread.php?t=23039&page=4

[Nutcase]

As a former pilot, I question why they attempted a landing in the first place.

[raker]

Did she really say "miraculous?" Is she a professional journalist or the inarticulate person-on-the-street? How about leaving the "miracle" baloney to clergy, like Oprah, and stick to legitimate words and ideas for news stories. (That means no "amazing" or "surreal" either.) And it looked like her "hero" pilot created the danger he narrowly survived.

[CSE]

A great opportunity to study the flight data recorders and see whether the pilots could have added power and aborted while staying airborne and not touching the runway. Attempting to put that plane down with so much yaw and exposing the underside of the starboard wing to the wind - forcing the other wing onto the pavement - just doesn't seem like a wise move.

[Earl]

I doubt if you need the flight data recorders to determine that.

[mawrm]

Looks like they were at the limits of aileron control authority too!! Unless they had fuel constraints, I would've diverted myself!!

But I can tell you this- they won't try this stunt again EVER!! :-)

[JBS]

But sooner or later someone will find something just as stupid or stupider to try.

[Tom95134]

Definitely, a high-pucker factor attempt.

Frankly, I don't understand why the pilots even attempted to touch down. The amount of "crab" that he had cranked into the approach just to try to hold centerline was enough to cause landing gear problems from side loads when they touched the runway.

[GawdFraud]

I suspect that the pilots will have to answer some serious questions here. All commercial flight planning includes alternate fields in case the destination field is closed or if weather or field conditions are beyond the capabilities of the landing aircraft. In this case, the crosswind component was far in excess of the allowable component of the aircraft involved. In that case, although the pilots are allowed to start their approach, actual landing would have been out of the question, assuming the tower had given them the crosswind speeds to begin with. Why they failed to divert to their alternate is a question they will have to answer. Also, I question whether the winds were actually 150 as claimed because that would have had them flying at least a 45 degree vector as a result.
I’ve had similar situations in single engine and light twin engine aircraft but the relative landing speeds and the ability to sideslip rather than crab into the crosswind make for a much safer and less stomach churning result, something you can’t do with a commercial airliner.

[sawdustinhershoes]

I guess if it were 150 KM per hour versus mph it'd still be too much wind for what's evidenced by the video?

I have a feeling someone didn't quote the right units. Can a plane like this land wind 100 mph winds?

[nolandalla]

Something is amiss here. While the plane is flappping all over the runway seemingly out of control, why is the cameraman able to hold the focus and get a perfectly framed shot -- despite 150 mph wind gusts?

[Tom95134]

I suspect that there is no "camerman" but the video is taken from a camera that is enclosed and records everything that happens on a runway (for post-mortem analysis).

[ClevelandTom]

The camera that took the shots is almost certainly a fixed installation inside a housing. That would keep it stable. Most airports have these monitors to record what happends on the runways.

[JBS]

If you see the whole video whoever is making it was off the end of the runway beyond the perimeter fence, out of the wind on the lee side of a hill.

[drummond508]

From the time that the aircraft is visible in the clip, until the time the plane is 50ft or so off the runway - 13 seconds pass! More than enough time for the pilot to realize that landing the aircraft under these conditions is unsafe, insane would not be an exaggeration. Yet the Today show hosts PRAISE the pilot's ability!, So if you pull a boneheaded stunt and you get lucky you're a hero, if you don't pull it off - everyone says you were an idiot. (Notice the use of the past tense here). The man, or woman, should never be trusted with the lives of passengers ever again. The pilot should be banned from the autobahn too.

[CitizenRob]

Did you see that the plane was actually moving backwards at one point?

[23000Days]

That was an illusion, Rob. The wns were actually 35 knots,gusting to 55 knots.The plane speed was 130 (+-).

[Irons]

Looks like the way Bush has flown this country for the last seven years. Make you want to vomit.

[Ramirez]

BDS.
There's no cure.

[grisgris]

Is it dark up there?