SLF experience: Brutal braking, A380 landing 04R JFK
Posting as SLF!
I came into JFK on an EK A380 recently. Landing on 04R, I had a good view with a window seat and monitor showing the forward view.
The approach seemed low and flat, and we seemed to float appreciably. A few seconds after touchdown the most brutal braking I have ever experienced was applied for perhaps 5 seconds; people were screaming and all sorts of loose stuff was flying forward. Several of those entertainment 'remote control pads' that had been left undocked, flew past me! The braking was then backed-off and we resumed what felt like normal deceleration. We turned off on E at the very end of the runway.
Any thoughts, could that have been some kind of auto-braking targeting an earlier exit? I see that 04R is the shortest runway at KJFK by some margin, is it usual to land A380's there? (We then spent more than 20 minutes working our way across the other active runways! )