Japanese TV reports extremely hard landing of an Air Japan/ANA aircraft today at NRT. Incident was caught by airport security camera. Could not make out type, but looked eerily reminiscent of FedEx tragedy some years ago. Seemed like a steep descent, flared at last moment, touched down hard on main gear, lifted again, nose gear came down hard first before main gear again. Fuselage buckled as could be seen on close up. Glad, this time all ended without loss of life. We just went through a pretty severe typhoon, but conditions were not bad today. Sorry, can't find a link to the video. Assume it wil be all over the news tomorrow.
Last edited by EXLEFTSEAT; 23rd Jun 2012 at 06:11.
Reason: Some posters insist it was not Air Japan but ANA.
Variable winds. Hourly report had 18 kts gusting to 29 kts at the highest. Depending upon wind direction at touchdown there might have been some decent crosswinds.
I couldn't get Mr Tac Inop's link to work (something about an advert for a Silverlink player), so thought I'd post the link above. I don't know if it works or not but I'll check it once I've posted this and leave it if it does.
The conditions were not bad today and certainly did not necessitate the 'snatch' seen on the video. There was a bit of windshear but only +/- 10 kts and the turbulence was nowhere near NRT's normal standard. I have no idea if this was a mainline or an AJX flight but I'm sure we'll know tomorrow. If it's AJX we'll have to all undergo extra training and flights to make sure we do things properly. If it's mainline, maybe no need
The bit that the Youtube video misses, is the final approach just before landing. The other videos (although hard to watch because of buggy software) show that the aircraft actually came in with the nose slightly down, before pulling up at the last minute (just before the Youtube video starts).
It's interesting to watch the sequence of events from the close-up footage (from around 0.23 on that Youtube video). Some time ago, particularly in relation to some MD11 accidents, such as NRT and RUH and the A320 incident at LIS, we had discussions about where the damage is caused in bounced landings, i.e. whether it was the initial impact or subsequent bounces.
Here, it seems that although the initial touchdown cause some damage (0.25), it was the first (0.26) and particularly the second (0.28) nosegear impacts which exacerbated the fuselage damage; note also that the nosegear comes down before the left MLG. It will be interesting to see what G-forces were experienced during these impacts.
Last edited by akerosid; 20th Jun 2012 at 19:18.
Reason: Error
Wasn't as simple as that. Landed at NRT around the same time. Probably just before the aircraft concerned. Winds observed at 1000 ft agl were 240/58-72 kts, dropping down to 230/48 kts steady at 500 ft. And then there was a +/- 15 kts WS reported. On my observation it was more like +/- 20 kts windshear! And the turbulence was huge. Moderate to moderate/severe turbulence REPORTED by 4 airplane before me from 500 ft to touchdown. I observed Moderate/Severe all the way down from 500 ft to touchdown. And BTW the winds reported on ground were 220 to 250 at 28 gusting 44 kts. That's a direct crosswind for the runway in use-16R. And the winds were spot on! Airport should have been temporarily closed. I'm not surprised this happened. Odds were that something like this was inevitably going to happen today. Only the best pilots made it to terra firma today before 9 or 10 am local time. After that the wind speed, windshear and turbulence were mildly acceptable. Applause to all who landed at NRT before noon today.....
Last edited by Germanflyer; 20th Jun 2012 at 19:37.
This is a case of Press-On-itis. Come on folks, how many CRM refreshers have we sat through to know that it's our responsibility to speak up and do the sensible thing. If ATC haven't temporarily closed the airport and you get down to 500ft with winds and turbulence like that then surely a go-around is a reasonable course of action.
By that point you've looked at your fuel status....you know how much fat you've got to hold overhead before buggering off up the road to you Alternate.
This just seems a classic example of all the holes lineing up resulting in a bent airframe and about 300 personal injury claims!
Hey guys it's not up to ATC to close the airport , the guy in the left seat has the final say to shoot the approach or not. Some a/c may have 30KT xwind limit some may have a 40kt limit.
B-HKD, the last photo is not an KLM aircraft. Yes, the colourscheme looks very similar but KLM does not have numbers that big on the nosegear doors. Neither has KLM got any widebodies (in 'new' livery) with no L2 (main entry door) before the wing.
Last edited by Flying Torquewrench; 20th Jun 2012 at 21:43.
Sky Jet, Almost ALL suitable alternates around NRT has similar weather and winds at that point in time. The typhoon was supposed to last out only until 2300z initially but carried on for a couple of hours more than expected. That sometimes spoils the plan for you! Of course a go around is always an option. But where to my friend. It was a wide spread typhoon that out lived its expectancy. Just a bad day I guess.. With a decent ending.
filejw - exactly right. There does come a point where I personally think airport's should be closed but the ultimate responsibility remains, quite rightly, with the folks in the air.
Gestapo - so commercial pressure then.....if weather at the destination and destination alternates was all crap why did they get airborne in the first place and paint themselves into a tight spot?
Of course I'm sat here commenting from the comfort of my Marriott bed down route.......I guess well done for not killing anyone guys, but christ you weren't far off were you!
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