Video: The freaky deaky Lufthansa wingstrike clip
posted at 11:23 am on March 4, 2008 by Allahpundit
We’re going to need some tension-breakers today while we wait to see if Her Majesty pulls through or succumbs to Obama fee-vah. What better way to soothe frayed nerves than with a jumbo jet near-crash?
One million plus views in about a day and half.
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Yeah, thanks. That really makes me feel better. Guess it’ll be another 8 years before I fly now…
Blacklake on March 4, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Wow! Just wow!
kcd on March 4, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Talk about Cross Winds. Scarey!
upinak on March 4, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Wow…life and death.
The_Freeze on March 4, 2008 at 11:27 AM
The solution ……
Training wheels and an anchor.
fogw on March 4, 2008 at 11:28 AM
I’m glad I don’t like flying.
BL@KBIRD on March 4, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Ahh Crosswinds aren’t all that bad. It is the lightening that freak me out!
upinak on March 4, 2008 at 11:28 AM
No joke. I already hate flying as is.
Slublog on March 4, 2008 at 11:28 AM
I hope my sister don’t see this! She is flying from Birmingham, Al. to Tulsa, Ok. Friday. She has never flown in all her 40 yrs and if she sees this, she won’t fly at all!!
kcd on March 4, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Major crosswinds there.
lorien1973 on March 4, 2008 at 11:28 AM
During the weekend, Germany had experienced near-record winds and gales. I had thought 70+ km/h winds was bad where I was (west of Frankfurt), with gusts in excess of 100 km/h, only to discover that Bayern was even worse off than us, resulting in the video there.
Spc Steve on March 4, 2008 at 11:31 AM
I’m betting somebody ended up with poopy pants from that one…pass the defibulator please!
soulsirkus on March 4, 2008 at 11:32 AM
I hope they had enough barf bags.
redrock on March 4, 2008 at 11:33 AM
On the bright side, here’s a British Airways pilot pegging one:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=766_1196775900
Blacklake on March 4, 2008 at 11:33 AM
I crapped my pants just watching that.
I hate to think what would have happened had I BEEN on that plane.
ej_pez on March 4, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Too bad there isnt a video of what was going on inside the plane during that aborted landing. Congrats to the pilot – he had some serious mad flying skills.
journeyscarab on March 4, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Static discharge wicks usually take care of lightning. Trust me, harsh X-winds are much more tricky.
bernzright777 on March 4, 2008 at 11:36 AM
I had a landing in Houston about like that Sunday night!
Just now got the white out of my knuckles!
conservnut on March 4, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Thank God that plane made it. Thank God the pilot had the good sense to abandon the landing. Luckily, this kind of thing is pretty rare!
gmoonster on March 4, 2008 at 11:36 AM
I emailed Fox news and told them they needed to change their story because it was incorrect and now I guess you’re next in line…
the plane does not strike the ground… that’s the blast from the engine, blowing up dust.
fox news thought I was right. they changed the story soon after. what say you?
and I also blasted them for linked to pure bile like liveleak.com
Kaptain Amerika on March 4, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Maximum “Puckerage” on that one!
Uhh, stewardess, I mean “Flight attendant”, can you please remove this seat cushion from my backside…?
Swinehound on March 4, 2008 at 11:37 AM
All commercial pilots must know how to land in crosswinds. If you fly regularly, 1/3rd of the time you land in a cross wind and do not know it.
upinak on March 4, 2008 at 11:38 AM
The plane does strike the ground, (the left wing). They showed the damage after it successfully landed.
DngrMse on March 4, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Got to give all the credit in the world to the pilot and flight crew
Defector01 on March 4, 2008 at 11:40 AM
I am stunned that the crew even attempted the landing. The reports form the tower had to have shown conditions well above max. limits for the aircraft. I wouldn’t be surprised if the flight crew were to face disciplinary actions.
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 11:40 AM
I will totally give you that! But if you ever fly into Anchorage. You go over a inlet, MASSIVE crosswinds and of course the wind shear with the occational down momentum airpockets. UGH making myself sick thinking about it.
upinak on March 4, 2008 at 11:40 AM
I was on a plane in St. Louis that did practically the same thing. I could have sworn that the tip of the wing touched the ground! We ended up with a do over and landing uneventfully.
On another flight, also in St. Louis, my plane struck a plane on the runway during takeoff. My plane ground to a halt with no casualties but everyone on the plane we hit were killed.
Flying can be dangerous!
Charles Martel on March 4, 2008 at 11:41 AM
If I ever had a landing like that, I’d be white knuckling so bad they’d have to cut me out of the seat.
High Desert Wanderer on March 4, 2008 at 11:42 AM
In the pilot’s defense, the winds in Hamburg that day were near hurricane force. That airfield should have been closed.
I fly somewhere nearly every week…I hate seeing stuff like this.
flipflop on March 4, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Bravo for the pilot! Smart enough to know the excrement in his pants can be cleaned at another airport rather than chance a certain catastrophe.
Rovin on March 4, 2008 at 11:43 AM
EVERY pilot must learn to takeoff and land in crosswinds, before they even solo. As an instructor, I would never sign off on ANY pilot that does not realize they’re landing in a crosswind, no matter what the x-wind component is.
bernzright777 on March 4, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Freaky deaky, indeed.
KelliD on March 4, 2008 at 11:44 AM
I’m so addicted to the show Lost right now. The DVDs have really put a damper on my sleeping schedule.
Zetterson on March 4, 2008 at 11:44 AM
I’m not afraid of flying…….
it’s that crashing thing that bugs me.
Talon on March 4, 2008 at 11:44 AM
I am talking about the passengers, NOT the pilots! LMFAO
upinak on March 4, 2008 at 11:45 AM
ahh, gotcha! :)
bernzright777 on March 4, 2008 at 11:47 AM
And it went back up and had to come down again?? A crash wouldn’t have mattered at that point – I would have already had a heart attack!
Ann on March 4, 2008 at 11:48 AM
The most exciting thing to happen in the sky over Hamburg since July 1943!
Lehuster on March 4, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Heh
Reminds me of the Saudi Air Force as they tried to land their F-15′s.
F15Mech on March 4, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Ths captain/crew is soley responsible for the safety of the aircraft and passengers and as such makes the final call on any aspect of the flight regardless of what the tower, ATC or the company operations folks suggest.
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Hey, KA, This shows the wing on the ground.
Longhorn Six on March 4, 2008 at 11:53 AM
And they had to replace 50 seats on that plane after it got down. They had little rounds holes ripped out.
conservnut on March 4, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Are you off-topic or just avoiding it?
ej_pez on March 4, 2008 at 11:54 AM
From the Airbus manual:
CurtZHP on March 4, 2008 at 11:57 AM
A couple of things:
It’s not a jumbo. I think it’s an A319 or 320.
Second- this ought to make one less afraid to fly- knowing that a wing can strike the ground and easily survive well enough to fly.
That’s a tough piece of equipment.
(I fly about 120,000 miles a year)
drjohn on March 4, 2008 at 11:58 AM
My father was on a flight where they were hit by cross-winds after landing, which picked up one side of the plane. I don’t remember if the wing struck the ground, but as he walked off the plane, he heard the pilot say to the co-pilot “Boy, that was close…”
eeyore on March 4, 2008 at 11:59 AM
I heard a passenger interviewed last night. He said you could hear a pin drop while the plane was attempting that landing and almost bought it — remained silent until the second (and successful) attempt — once touch down was achieved, they all let out a rousing cheer. The pilot did an amazing job. The people in the tower at the airport should be shot for even suggesting the plane attempt that landing on that runway with the crosswinds so strong. It was the PILOT who, after that little dance, suggested to the tower that they close that runway and bring them in on an alternate runway – INTO THE WIND, which frequent flyers know is the preferred way to land. That is a remarkable video to watch.
D2Boston on March 4, 2008 at 12:02 PM
It’s not the crosswind that gave me a scare watching that video; it’s seeing the crosswind go away just before the plane touched down. Kudos to the pilot!
Agree with the flight instructor upstream; every pilot learns how to land in crosswinds, very early in flight training. Along with landing on short fields, and landing on grass instead of concrete.
The really scary part about a landing like this is doing it in a jet. With a propeller craft, you stand on the throttle and (in most planes) you’ve got instant lift form the prop wash over the wing. With a jet, you don’t get that kind of instant response. You stand on the throttle, and wait, and wait……
NeighborhoodCatLady on March 4, 2008 at 12:02 PM
I just shat spaghetti
LimeyGeek on March 4, 2008 at 12:04 PM
You don’t get to try that on MS Flight Simulator (not like that). Some good flying, and a really good aircraft design (looks like A319) to boot.
My only flight experience is on IL2, and I’m usually shot up when I’m trying to land.
Hening on March 4, 2008 at 12:06 PM
This is Reason #26 on why I gave up flying a long time ago!
So, where is the obligatory train wreck?
Oh yeah! That’ll be at Shillary Campaign Headquarters later tonight.
pilamaye on March 4, 2008 at 12:07 PM
BUllets, methadone or bourbon?
LimeyGeek on March 4, 2008 at 12:10 PM
LOL he was making a comment on LOST because in it (the only show I watch and wait for to come out on DVD) the plane 814 breaks in half in midflight over some islands by Figi.
upinak on March 4, 2008 at 12:11 PM
I question the timing…
AverageJoe on March 4, 2008 at 12:13 PM
NeighborhoodCatLady on March 4, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Thats why your power setting is not flight idle when executing a cross wind approach. You need to keep the aircraft dynamically (positive) loaded via throttle and flap configuration so there is enough energy to fly through the encounter using aileron and rudder.
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 12:13 PM
I still fly for a living. The scariest part of landing is when you suddenly take off again and then you turn to the passenger next to you and say, “Was that suppose to happen?”
Kini on March 4, 2008 at 12:15 PM
The best part of flying…., the drink cart
Kini on March 4, 2008 at 12:16 PM
As they look back at you with WIDE EYES and a trembling lower lip.
LMFAO, I am not flying with you man!
upinak on March 4, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Kini on March 4, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Yep, missed approaches or go arounds are no fun for all involved! Every additional attempt is yet another potential problem.
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 12:19 PM
dmann, that makes sense about throttle settings. Thanks.
NeighborhoodCatLady on March 4, 2008 at 12:21 PM
In the immortal words of Ron White:
“Hit somethin’ hard. I don’t wanna limp away from this thing!”
CurtZHP on March 4, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Quote of the day!
bernzright777 on March 4, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Thankfully, between the highly trained and competent TSA and our mighty government’s homeland security infrastructure, I’ve become convinced that the best option for me is to not fly.
When we fire every charlatan involved, disband the TSA and allow lawfully armed passengers, I’ll take to the skies again.
LimeyGeek on March 4, 2008 at 12:24 PM
NeighborhoodCatLady on March 4, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Your welcome…..
Kini on March 4, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Agreed, the drink cart is tops!!!
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 12:26 PM
It’s quite possible that the gusting winds shifted between the time the pilot was cleared to land (the last time the tower would provide the winds) and the actual attempt to land.
This happened to me in Iceland once. The gusty winds (which were already producing a slight cross wind) shifted about 30 degrees within 20 seconds. My copilot was “scope locked” on trying to get the aircraft on the ground, and I don’t think he realized what had happened. He had to be told to “take it around.” Once he heard that, you could see the light bulb go on. We aborted the landing and used a different runway.
blink on March 4, 2008 at 12:27 PM
In my opinion, as a corporate pilot currently flying military aircraft in Iraq…
That landing should not have been attempted and the flight crew probably should have “gone around”, or broken off the approach, much sooner than they did. It was a very clumsily flown crosswind landing.
If I may critique:
The beginning of the video, the approach, appears stabilized and “textbook”. However, an aircraft must land with its landing gear aligned with the runway. (Meaning it must be moving straight down the runway and a parallel to the centerline so that the plane does not have a large side load on touch down.) As this aircraft nears the runway you will see the pilot swing the nose out of the “crab” which was keeping the aircraft aligned with the runway center line, and align the aircraft’s nose and landing gear with the runway. If properly accomplished, this alignment must also be accompanied by a dip of the wing which is into the wind so as to prevent the wind from blowing the aircraft off the runway. In this case the wind is from the right and thus the right wing should have dipped. However the pilot fails to do so. The wings are held level at first and then the pilot allows the left wing to dip. With a crosswind from the right, the combination of wind and wing dip will allow the aircraft to rapidly move to left and off the runway. This was very poorly flown… Also, the fact that the pilot struck the left wing, when the wind was blowing from the right, which requires a right wing dip also supports my belief that this pilot was badly over matched by the weather and should have figured that out much sooner. If the pilot had struck the right wing at least he could have claimed that he used the correct procedure.
Many aircraft have a maximum crosswind component which if exceeded will make it impossible to land without striking a wing. It appears that the maximum was exceeded in this case. Also, it would not surprise me to find out that the crew broke some company limitations. In this case, the flight crew was STUPID to attempt landing in that bad of a crosswind. Flight crews are supposed to exercise good judgment, which sadly they don’t always do.
However, in the words of a pilot much senior to me, who has flown aircraft for over 50 years, “any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”
Cheers
ColHogan on March 4, 2008 at 12:28 PM
I prefer watching a Boeing jam
Bluecaper on March 4, 2008 at 12:30 PM
ColHogan on March 4, 2008 at 12:28 PM
Roger that!
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 12:30 PM
It looks to me that, after the port wing strikes, the plane over-corrects to starboard and that wing strikes, also.
Blacklake on March 4, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Somehow dropped the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8KZ2mL2WdY
Bluecaper on March 4, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Every landing is also a controlled crash. I agree with every word you wrote. The pilot s/b reprimanded. No matter what, weather, procedures, etc., the decision/responsibility always rests with the pilot/s.
Entelechy on March 4, 2008 at 12:36 PM
I remember a landing in a airliner that was being hit by pretty serious crosswinds once. We kind of landed to one side and if we were to die I was going to have some fun with it so I called out for everyone to lean to the other side to level us out and back and forth as the plane bounced from side to side and finally got all it’s wheels on the ground. Everyone had a good laugh and even the captain made a humorous comment (which I can’t remember now).
As the saying goes, “Any landing you walk away from….”
Yakko77 on March 4, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Dude.. What??
amkun on March 4, 2008 at 12:39 PM
I showed this around work, bosses son is a pilot and was told the greatest pilots use their best knowledge of flying so they don’t have to use thier best skills.
Coming in to land, we had a stiff cross wind hit a Huey I was riding in, and even in something that can hover it’s a very tense moment.
CBarker on March 4, 2008 at 12:40 PM
4 minutes and 30 seconds of shear “awesome” !!!
Good post Blue!
bernzright777 on March 4, 2008 at 12:42 PM
I really don’t think either wing touched the ground. I do think both pilots should be fired because they both have the authority to call for a go-around and should have when they had to use that much rudder so close to touchdown. I know on a Boeing there are TO/GA switches on the throttles that basically apply full power and AP the plane back into the pattern, I’d assume an Airbus would have the same considering they have the computer control everything.
Oroso on March 4, 2008 at 1:02 PM
This is why this ol’ boy don’t fly.
No sir. If it can’t be reached by car. I don’t go. :)
WayWard Fundamentalist Christian on March 4, 2008 at 1:02 PM
That video is a great example of why Boeing put landing gear on the B-52 that aligns with the runway when landing in a crosswind. There is no need to go through risky maneuvers to align the landing gear with the centerline.
Helloyawl on March 4, 2008 at 1:09 PM
Here’s another one. Even our old stuff is freaking awesome.
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=-_EXtBEaBbs
Squiggy on March 4, 2008 at 1:26 PM
How ironic is this? This is what I said the other day in the Southwest thread:
TheBigOldDog on March 4, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Paging Tony737! What say you, Tony?
This is when that new brand of pants would be helpful, you know, the Oooopsicrappedmy Pants.
I once heard a pilot say that flying is hours of boredom punctuated with moments of stark terror.
NTWR on March 4, 2008 at 1:47 PM
I bet there are some good videos out there of auto crashes, and most of the people that are scared to fly, drive.
kirkill on March 4, 2008 at 1:51 PM
Agreed. That pilot just saved the lives of all those passengers from the incompetence of the tower. You could see the wicked shear wind in the first few seconds of the clip. That he was able to pull that stupid, stupid pattern out of an almost certain catastrophe is a testament to the fantastic pilots we have flying our air liners.
Well done, pilot.
spmat on March 4, 2008 at 2:00 PM
that was like Initial D with a jet liner… Crazy!
liquidflorian on March 4, 2008 at 2:02 PM
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5fc_1189993936
Stay with this to the end, it IS worth it. The props get tossed around like straw… and the last vid, watch the glass of fluid while the pilot rolls the aircraft.
shooter on March 4, 2008 at 2:03 PM
Well, “Der Spiegel” has some interesting information:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,539373,00.html
I’ll let that speak for itself, but, uh, it’s going to be hard not to comment on that…
MikeHu on March 4, 2008 at 2:04 PM
From a FlightAware discussion:
ATIS information was not recently updated by tower crew.
With wind coming from 290 deg., and landing on runway 23 (230 deg.) the plane had a headwind 60 deg. off its nose.
Second attempt on runway 33 (330 deg.), wind was 40 deg off the nose (if the wind hadn’t changed).
Pilot in command should have requested 33 or gone elsewhere, or just held until storm passed.
Yesterday I landed my little PA-32 in gusts up to 30 kt, but only 20 deg. off the nose – no problem at all, because of small crosswind component.
fred5678 on March 4, 2008 at 2:10 PM
Even though it sounded like a real plane in distress, I didn’t hear it squeal when the wingtip first hit. And look how stiff it appeared…there was no motion at all of the landing gear throughout the entire video.
Sorry, folks…due to the number of realistic looking airplane models out there, I’m going to have to call this a fake. But the pilots should be punished anyway for making Lufthansa look bad.
James on March 4, 2008 at 2:28 PM
Well said Col Hogan.
ThackerAgency on March 4, 2008 at 2:37 PM
Criticism/faults valid on both sides. However, the pilot/copilot still saved everyone’s bacon. Criticize if you must but pilot skill still won in the end. Weather conditions on the ground or near ground can change instantly w/o warning, from bad to terrible.
Roger Brown on March 4, 2008 at 2:42 PM
Well, let’s get this over with… (from “Der Spiegel” – link above):
MikeHu on March 4, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Paging Tony737! What say you, Tony? – NTWR
I say “OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT”!
Thank God I’ve never been on one of those!
He must’ve diverted to another city when he climbed back out again, as mentioned above, that airport should’ve been closed.
This is why all planes oughta have rotating landing gear like on a B-52.
Tony737 on March 4, 2008 at 2:59 PM
fred5678 on March 4, 2008 at 2:10 PM
Thanks for the info. There is too much pressure applied by management/customers on flight crews to meet schedules. Aviation history is littered with tragic accidents that are directly attributable to this, even though the formal investigations typically fault crew judgment.
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 3:03 PM
“… Lufthansa Airbus A320 that almost crashed … was being steered by the 24-year-old female co-pilot, named only as Maxi J …”
Nice flyin’ Maxi! You saved all those lives onboard. Someone buy that lady a Bitberger!
Tony737 on March 4, 2008 at 3:07 PM
Landing gear type and/or position plays no role in how a cross wind approach is flown, only at flare would B52 style directional bicycle gear influence (reduce)the amount of rudder deflection required to best track the centerline of the runway.
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 3:12 PM
I’ll take flying over driving the 101/405 interchange any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
There’s nothing like a late-for-his-pitch-meeting producer, driving a Lincoln Navigator, blabbing on his cell phone and cutting into your lane without warning to make you find Jesus.
The Ugly American on March 4, 2008 at 3:21 PM
The Ugly American on March 4, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Or a gun!
dmann on March 4, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Oh yeah… forgot about open season on the L.A. freeway
The Ugly American on March 4, 2008 at 3:32 PM
Weeeeeeee!!!!
Maxi was the young co-pilot that attempted the landing, but the older 39 year-old pilot took over the abort. I’m not sure who made the final, successful landing, but I’m betting it was the pilot.
Check the news links, the video is real and recent.
pecan pie on March 4, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Too subtle? (Check out the puppy clip posts.)
James on March 4, 2008 at 3:54 PM
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