Going back to the A380 approach that kicked this thread off, I wonder if we’re not reading a bit too much into it. A tailwind on final’s never going to help, but it was all looking pretty good until it was established in the flare. But if some of that tailwind suddenly drops out in the flare, then right away you’ve got maybe an extra 5 KIAS you weren’t expecting, the jet levitates a bit, and now you’ve got exactly what we saw on the video. (And any crosswind in an extended float will inevitably put you off centreline.) There’s not a lot you can do about it, you either ride it out (usually ending in an inelegant touchdown like we saw here), or decide to go around. Without being on that flight deck, I couldn’t say that what they did was wrong. Bottom line, it can happen to all of us, and isn’t necessarily indicative of poor or degraded skills. It also proves that a nice approach doesn’t always result in a nice landing, as I keep demonstrating to myself.
