Nothing to do with JFK, but some time past I was doing a line check on a pilot whose first language was not english and in a company that would translate all documents for the pilots into their own language. I was in the jump seat and he did a superb job in a 30 knot direct crosswind, manually flying the ILS onto a shortish runway. Superb job.
But at the last minute he failed to kick straight, held wings level and landed with all the drift. I truly thought all the main wheel tires would have been rolled off the rims, and the impact was dreadful, made the worse because it was so totally unexpected. Yet he was smiling as if he had done a great job.
In the crew bus I debriefed him and asked him what had gone wrong, but he professed no knowledge of what, or why, I was complaining about. He claimed he had followed all procedures correctly.
I asked him to explain the procedure, and he was correct except for the need to straighten the airplane. He said that in the B744 it was normal to hold the airplane in the crab until after touchdown.
I suspected the translation and showed him the english version. he was surprised to read that the technique he was using was only applicable to a WET runway.