Many of the posters on this thread seem a tad too ready to criticise the performance of the LH flight crew for this incident at Hamburg last Saturday. Is it just possible that they encountered a gust of exceptional velocity at the most vulnerable stage of their landing?
I live in Tayside, Scotland and last weekend we experienced wind gusts which I thought were 'unusual' in relation to the mean wind speed. From figures recorded at Perth airfield, the mean wind speed was around 30-35 kts but some of the gusts were exceptionally strong (85 kts) and of short duration (10-15 seconds). If the LH A320 crew were unlucky enough to encounter a sudden gust of similar velocity at Hamburg, it may well have caught them out. It certainly caught out one of my golfing companions last weekend. He was blown flat on his back while hitting one of his tee shots! (PBL: Is it normal for the gust/mean windspeed ratio to be around 3?)
On the 'evidence' presented on this thread, together with the nature of the wind I experienced personally last weekend, I'm inclined to give Maxi J. and her captain the 'benefit of the doubt' on this occasion.
Mariners seem to have a healthy respect for the sea/weather and accept that, just occasionally, mother nature can produce conditions which will overwhelm the largest ships crewed by the finest seamen. Perhaps, aviators should show a similar humility with regard to the capabilities of their aircraft and their prowess as pilots.