Could we change the thread name, remove "Air Japan" from it. The flight was an ANA flight operated by Japanese ANA pilots. Air Japan is a seperate operation, mostly foreign contract crews. Air Japan does do a lot of 767 flying for ANA but not this particular one.
In my experience, a landing into Narita on 16R when the winds are blowing like they were on this day can be one of the more difficult and unpredictable I have experienced. If I remember correctly CX badly damaged (wrote off?) an L1011 years ago.
The turbulence and windshear caused by the gusty winds from that direction make for a very interesting and challenging approach.
I'm not surprised this doesn't happen more often. The Fedex MD11 accident was on 34L in similar conditions.
Narita really needs a runway 04/22 to allow operations when the winds are like this.
Let's be thankful we only saw a bent aircraft and no loss of life.
Last edited by gtseraf; 21st Jun 2012 at 01:27.