‘Unbelievable’ Crosswind Landings at Düsseldorf Airport Require Pilot Skill
- Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:08pm by
Liz Klimas
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Proceed with caution if you’ve a fear of flying.
A recent YouTube video of airplanes landing on an extremely windy day at Düsseldorf Airport in Germany have commenters calling the footage “impressive,“ ”unbelievable,“ ”awesome“ and ”spectacular.” But would you believe that a pilot explaining crosswind landings said it’s not as scary as it looks and that passengers on the plane may not even notice?
First, check out the footage of the landings (Note: Less scary looking crosswind takeoffs are filmed later in the video, but a bolt of lightning at 7:03 is worth holding out for):
CNN interviewed Daniel Fahl, a U.S. airline captain, for more information on crosswind landings. Here’s what he said:
“It’s not really dangerous. It just requires the utmost of your training to kick in,” Fahl said.
“It does look dramatic, but that’s just because the airplanes are so susceptible to the wind. But that‘s how they’re designed. They’re designed to be weather vanes that point into the wind.”
Pilots let the plane “weather vane” into the wind while it’s airborne but manipulate the controls just before touchdown so the aircraft is aligned with the center of the runway for the landing, Fahl said.
[...]
“There’ve been some times on really, really strong wind days where as I’m landing, instead of looking out the front windows of the airplane, I’m actually looking somewhat out the side windows to see the runway because the airplane in flight is pointed into the wind, which may not be the center of the runway,” Fahl said.
According to CNN, passengers sitting at the back of the plane may not even notice anything strange about the landing. CNN even reports Fahl as saying some crosswind landings are more gentle than traditional landings because of the special maneuvering needed for touchdown.
[H/T Gizmodo]
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Comments (108)
gvblaze
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:51pmSalute to these guys! But, I also know that some times things that look really scary may not be. Been riding motorcycles for 40 years. I can still make people bite their nails and I’m fat and old. If you know how to handle your machine, regardless of how big it is, people that don’t know how to handle it look on in awe. Nevertheless, looks like some good flying here. While it may not be “dangerous” it certainly takes some skill and these guys (and gals) have it!
Being a gearhead, if there’s squealing tires and rubber smoke, I’m captivated! Woo! Hoo!
Report Post »corbecket
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 9:24pmThey were all tolerable performances, but the RJ‘s and the ’37′s seemed to display the most artistry (yes, crosswind is an art, and many even in the majors never get the hang of it). What was rather surprising, consistently amongst the landers, was the tendency let the aircraft drift downwind from the centerline. That’s generally considered to be poor form. You are supposed to track the extended centerline all the way in to touchdown. You are not supposed to track back upwind to the centerline after you get over the runway.
Most of these landings have valid operational errors, but the performance is “good enough”. I’m just a guy that used to do this for a living. Nice video quality by the way.
Hey! It is a comment section, correct?
Report Post »Skytrash
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 3:29amThe 3rd landing would of been a go-around for me, the guy never stuck the rudder or dropped his wing. A train wreck of a landing in my book! The landing gear can take a hell of hit but not with a side load. I fly a wide body jet (MD-11) and our aircraft is UNFORGIVING on landings! Also, used to fly the 757 and 767. If you don’t do them often it can be a perishable skill especially at the end of a 10 hour flight where the autopilot has done the vast majority of the flying.
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 6:08amUmmm… that’s called a “cros wind landing”. Two techniques, wing low or side slip. Done almost everyday… yawn
Report Post »Taxpayer550
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 8:47amCessna152, wouldn’t they also label these landings “Crab” approaches? I’ve heard that term kicked around quite a bit.
Anyway you look at it, kudos to the pilots. It takes great training and nerves of steel to set one of those babies down in heavy crosswinds, and hundreds of souls on board.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 9:22amAdd in an obstruction like trees or a hill that suddenly alters the crosswind, and it gets even more “fun.”
Looks more dramatic than it is. Tricky? Can be. Finesse? Absolutely. Common? Oh, yes.
A friend who did crop dusting had an 800 ft sod runway lined with trees on one side, and with a 10 degree slope dropping off at one end, and power lines at the other. All takeoffs were in the same direction regardless of winds, as were all landings. Now THAT was a challenge!
Report Post »Oh and a big ditch where the REIL would usually be.
Ruler4You
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 9:25amI’ve been on a twin turbo prop landing in Greenville Spartanburg airport in an ice storm where the cross wind was like this. The plane was all over the runway after touch down.
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 10:12amMe too! WhooHoo!
Report Post »Buck Shane
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 11:56amThe B52 just crabbed all the way in and turned the landing gear to match the runway.
Report Post »Cross winds are less of a problem than gusts.
teamarcheson
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 1:56pmAt Newark I was sitting in the tail and could see the runway ahead as we landed. The pilot should have aborted because we hit really hard. Even the cabin crew looked terrified in that landing. There were a lot of praying on that landing. Shortly after my landing the airport was shut down.
Report Post »corbecket
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 3:52pm“It takes great training and nerves of steel to set one of those babies down in heavy crosswinds, and hundreds of souls on board.”
I don’t know about your first two points. Those would not be the two qualities that assist in a crosswind landing. Anything that would take nerves of steel, is something I figured I shouldn’t be doing anyway.
As to having hundreds of folks in back, it didn’t affect me at all in my flying. I always figured, if my butt got there safe, so would there’s. My own safety was always the primary motivator when driving the airliner. Seemed to work ok for 30+ years. No dents, no owies, no violations. When I retired, I figured I’d had a winning season.
The public has a very……..heroic view of what an airline pilot is all about. I figured it was a fantasy that didn’t need to be corrected, as I hoped they’d pay me more money because of it.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on January 15, 2012 at 7:30am@corb…
Report Post »Lol
That is exactly what I tell people who ask about the feeling of responsibility…
If I make it, so does everybody else!
Cat
Posted on January 15, 2012 at 9:49pmPilots have always impressed me with their refined talents
Report Post »Prop standing a P-51 Mustang or a Pitts Special in a double hammerhead is impressive
Piloting a 48-foot cat over choppy water looks dangerous, and being strapped inside 10,000 lbs of carbon fiber at nearly 190mph, IS dangerous
AOL_REFUGEE
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:42pmYeah, it’s a piece of cake. In some ways it’s even easier than a regular landing – says Fahl, buffing his fingernails in his shirt.
Report Post »Skytrash
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 1:43pmCESSNA152, you don’t fly a large jet like a single engine reciprocating airplane, the control responses take much longer to take effect. It’s more like herding sheep! Yea, crosswinds are fairly easy but as you see in the video there’s clearly a major gust factor as well. Oh, and our main gear is about 100′ behind the cockpit!
Report Post »CulpepperJosh1638
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:37pmIt looked bad at first…but meh he did a good job on the landing.
Report Post »comsense08
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:35pm9 will get you 10 they were trained in the good old United States!
Report Post »lionshield
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:22pmWhen I got on the ground; would ask if I could see the pliot to give him a jew-kiss on both-sides of his face for saving my life! wow!
Report Post »hpyagl
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:14pmCrosswind landings in my opinion are one of the most enjoyable things to do as a pilot up to a point. I suspect many of these heavy pilots would prefer to slip vs crabbing in like like they are performing here but I’ve always wondered if the airline procedures call for a crab approach to not scare the passengers. I have found landing and rolling out on the upwind wheel is nicer to the gear and tires on the little 152s and 172s I am used to flying. It just “feels” weird to the passenger. These guys look to have the yaw timing right to minimize the side loads on the gear. Good pilots!!
Report Post »tom
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 9:05pmYou don’t slip a swept wing jet!
Report Post »Skytrash
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 3:03pm2 words TOM, “you’re right”.
Report Post »hpyagl
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 4:11pmInteresting comments. I’ll take it on faith that you “don’t slip a swept wing jet” but a quick look at pilot blogs sure seems to indicate some heavy pilots use some cross control, i.e slip during flare to keep it straight. Maybe it’s just those with more experience that know where the low hanging parts are at all attitudes.
Report Post »Skytrash
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 5:15pmKick the rudder and drop the wing just before the flare, not a say 500′ in smaller straight wing aircraft.. BTW, I do fly wide bodies.
Report Post »hpyagl
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 8:40pmRight. Adding opposite rudder against that dropped wing will make it much smoother. Don’t get lazy with that rudder. I don’t mean it as a hit on ATPs but I remember back in my student pilot days, my instructor would constantly hammer me when I got lax on the rudder. He told me on more than one occasion ” Don’t get lazy like the big jet pilots.“ I always remember that as well as the statement ” don‘t let the airplane take you where your brain hasn’t been 5 minutes before”. I gained great respect for that 70+ year old instructor. He trained many ATPs and he could do things with an airplane that few can master. I thought he was being sadistic when he made me recover from spin after spin under the hood until he felt that I was comfortable with it. He died last year. I cried for two days.
Report Post »The BRAIN
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:12pmLots of good stuff on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwyVZtSUfAc
The Boeing test certification series ones are always the best. Top pilots pushing to the limits.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:00pmThanks for the video…all the pilots and crew did fantastic jobs landing (& taking off). My grandchild loves planes and I‘ll let her watch it next time she’s over. :)
Report Post »txwheels
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:46pmFor 24 years in the military, they were either having me board a plane to jump out of, or getting on one to go one place or another.
Report Post »Now that I’m retired, if I can’t pull to the side of road, open the door and put both feet immediately on the ground, then I have no desire to be there..
Stu D. Baker-Hawk
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:50pmTruly spoken like someone who’s been there! (BTW, thanks for your service.)
Report Post »Stu D. Baker-Hawk
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:43pmOkay, so what? That’s just another ho-hum day when you fly in a C-130. The first four years of my Air Force career were spent flying in the greatest aircraft to ever take to the skies — the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft (we fly in the ‘E’ model out of Little Rock AFB). If you want a white-knuckle ride that you’ll never forget, sit in a ‘130 when it’s engaged in combat maneuvering; believe me, THAT’LL make your tailpipe pucker!
Report Post »Stu D. Baker-Hawk
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:46pmCorrection: We ‘flew’… not we fly. That was 30 years ago!
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:56pm@STU D. BAKER-HAWK……..Anyone that appreciates the finer qualities of the C-130, is ok with me. I used to fly them too, and was at LittleRock, as well as flying in there with the DCS in later years.
Report Post »eagle2715
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:07pmMost are J models now…Amazing how much of that bird has changed, yet how much is still the same. Still a big pig with 4 black clouds of smoke trailing behind it ;) I flew on Fs and Ts myself…the KC kind though…
Report Post »AFGvet
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 10:51pmQ: What 4 Officers are on the flight deck of a C-130?
A: two that failed out of flight training and 2 that probably should have!
Just kidding, some old military humor for you guys. Worked on C-130s for a while; there is nothing that can do what they do! Thanks for your service gents.
Report Post »Liberty4Nevada
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:35pmI’ve seen worse crosswinds watching planes land here in Reno, Nevada.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:07pmKids enjoy watching the video. Back in the day, I used to park on Aviation Blvd at the LAX Runway under these 747′s landing just the same. Sitting in the Proud Bird is as close as one can get now a days.
Report Post »SkiTuna
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:59pmI remember the turnouts off the blvd all so well.
Report Post »THXll38
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:57pmThat’s a prime example of why they should never get rid of those mini-bottles of whiskey! those damn things saved those peoples lives! Thanks to those little mini-bottles, the pilot(s) had nerves of steel.
Report Post »JohnHW
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:53pmI was also taught a wing low method – sometimes it looks like you are going to touch your wing before the wheel. Maybe that is just for the lower weight aircraft – haven’t flown anything over 18,000 lbs gross.
Report Post »Vacman
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:51pmThat’s nothing , Watch Flying Wild Alaska on Discovery Channel, flying those little bush planes in worse conditions than that..
Report Post »notreally
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:51pmBloody boring to me. If you’ve flown supersonic fighter jets off US aircraft carriers at night in heavy seas with a 40 foot pitching deck…well. The most challenging cross wind I had was a 40 knot crosswind landing in a 747. They changed the runway after my landing (JFK). But these guys did a hell of a job. I just don’t like the Hollywood “over glorification” of what is, to many Navy pilots, an average day.
Report Post »db321
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:58pmI was a passenger on a Commercial Airliner that experience high cross winds coming in to DFW. I had a window seat and I could see the runway out my window and at the last minute the pilot turned the airliner straight. A little tense but not a bad landing.
Report Post »politicaljules
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 8:34pmBut on a carrier, you drive the ship into the wind. That is the advantage of being able to turn the airport around. I am not sure what carrier you experienced crosswinds on a regular basis, but maybe I am the ignorant one. My husband served as a member of vfa-65. The world class Fighting Tigers aboard the USS Coral sea. They flew the A-6 intruder which is not used anylonger, but as I understood him, the carrier slices throught the wind head on and the crosswinds are greatly reduced or nonexistant. Now if you are speaking of flying through a hurricaine that is a different story.
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on January 14, 2012 at 10:12pm@politicaljules—My now deceased brother served on the Coral sea in Vietnam.Good to see it mentioned.
Report Post »Marsh626
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:50pmFor all the people saying this is “routine” and “no big deal” are lying. This is extremely dangerous and difficult to do.
Report Post »Larry Sheldon
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:36pmI think Tex has confused “crossed-controls” (aka “side slip” or just “slip) (not used by commercials because of the deck angle and uncomfortable “seat-of-the-pants” feeling, both said to be upsetting to passengers) and “crabbing”. Or I am.
But she or he is absolutely correct so far as student pilots having to demonstrate both before “first solo”. When I was a student pilot I got to land with no crosswind so seldom they were a problem for me.
Large commercial aircraft (and some small–I don’t like them) have “crosswind gear” where the landing gear either casters, or is purposely aimed so the aircraft is allowed to touch down in the crab and isn’t straightened out until slowed.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:05pm@LARRY SHELDON…….Actually, the procedure used for the big aircraft I fly is pretty much the same as the small ones. We use aileron on the upwind side of the approach and opposite rudder, with power being used to regulate the descent rate. The only real difference is that if the conditions are really bad and at or near the demonstrated crosswind component of the aircraft, we sometimes have to disconnect the yaw dampener during the approach.
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:30pmImpressive. Looks like a hovering seagull.
Report Post »IneedtoseeyourID
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:27pmSkillz. Those pilots have it.
Report Post »4xeverything
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:24pmMakes me feel so small watching those huge planes getting whipped around like that.
Report Post »afishfarted
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:22pmnow that’s fun tp watch
Report Post »lodgerat
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:22pmI worked for USAirways for 30 years and witnessed thousands and thousands of takeoffs and landings. I’ve never seen anything lke this. These pilots are showing great skill. This is very impressive.
Report Post »Abraham Young
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:18pmI am SO grateful for these MAGNIFICENT MEN in their FLYING MACHINES.
And to give a hat tip to the cultural programming shadow government:
I’m grateful to the WOMEN TOO.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:15pmThis is a basic cross-control technique, taught to even student pilots, which allows your direction of flight to remain aligned with the runway during a cross-wind. However, just before touchdown, through the use of aileron and opposite rudder, the aircraft is yawed back, so the landing gear is parallel with the runway for touchdown…..looks cool though!
Report Post »taxx
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:21pmThat’s what I was going to say….
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:27pmTrue, but some days are tougher than others… and I know you’ve had those days.
Report Post »celestialfire
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:39pmEmirates and Turkish Air outstanding.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:40pm@THE_JERK……yes, some days are tougher than others….Last week, my co-pilot ate my donut when I wasn’t looking….that was a very bad day.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:35pmTXPilot
@THE_JERK……yes, some days are tougher than others….Last week, my co-pilot ate my donut when I wasn’t looking….that was a very bad day.
For you, your co-pilot or both! : )
Report Post »ScottG-CO
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 9:17pmNothing more fun than becoming a test pilot in my 65 Bellanca Viking on a 30 degree off the nose, 18 gusting 27 day!
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