Do 757s land there?
Just curious. Over "here" in the colonies, one of our 757/744 Aircrew training Instructors (with 757 type rating) was on our jumpseat about three days ago, and he described a tailstrike incident at a regular US east coast airport. The crew accepted some crappy ATC vectors which left them not stabilized at all by 1,000' AGL. Weather was not a factor. The FO suggested that they make a go-around, but sometimes Captains either don't really hear the 'message', or need to show that they can stabilize an unstable situation (contrary to the FOM).
If you scrape the tail of a 757, or a wingtip on any airplane, this is major structural damage. Boeing never needed a tailskid (
) on it. I would shudder at the idea of instant media coverage. They are welcome to call me a wimp for a recent go-around in moderate turbulence on final (gusting to 35 knots in thick rainshowers; there were no braking action reports for these conditions). We did not fly needed troops or support to Iraq or Afghanistan etc, so where is the need to be macho, or strictly "mission-oriented"?
If some pilots create serious aircraft damage resulting in days or weeks of lost revenue, will the company sympathise whenever we disregarded published limitations? Do spoilers always extend quickly when the main wheels barely spin-up on a wet runway?
