A330 - Is It Hard To Land?

[BAe 146-100]

Hey,

Is the A330 hard to land manually? Is this to do with the very high nose attitude in which the A330 approaches the runway?

Thanks
BAe 146 ;)

[White Knight]

No, it's sweet!!! What more can I say:ok: :ok:

[millerscourt]

Retard Retard Retard

[lead zeppelin]

Slides on nicely...........I only ever flew it in a sim, though!

[NWSRG]

Remember reading something about descent planning for the A330.

I think (stand to be corrected) that the big wing (plenty of lift) doesn't like to descent quickly, so speed / descent profiles need to be well planned.

[Flap 5]

The problem with the A330 is the bogey undercarriage. If you try to hold the aircraft off the runway before touchdown the rear two wheels of each bogey touchdown smoothly with the front two coming down heavily as the speed bleeds off.

The best way to do it, and the way the autopilot uses on autolands, is to touch down smoothly on the rear wheels of each bogey and then to push the nose down quite firmly to get the front wheels of each bogey close to the runway before touching them down smoothly while the aircraft still has reasonable flying speed. It can be quite tricky to do but works well when you have got the knack.

By the way what has the descent got to do with the question? But now you mention it the main difference between the A330 and the A320 on the approach is that on the A320 flap 2 works as a pretty effective speedbrake, but not the A330 which has much more momentum. The simulator overemphasises the momentum of the A330 on a final turn on to a runway. I found it to be very agile on the final turn to land on runway 13 at Kai Tak.

As far as the initial descent is concerned you just use the green down arrow on the NAV display. If you have put in the correct descent winds it works well. If you have a delay to land bringing back your speed to 'green dot' speed can be as low as 180kts at light weights and you feel like you can go for ever! You can do a couple of holds without bringing up the power. The only problem is ATC wanting you to descend quicker and slow down!

[speed freek]

I'm assuming the -300 is nicer to fly than the -200 as its a bit heavier....just a thought.

[White Knight]

MC, calling me a retard doesn't answer the question:{ :{

[millerscourt]

WK

I was wondering if your landings on the A330 were so sweet was because of the retard retard retard but if the cap fits then wear it by all means:p

As for landing the A340 then as per flaps 5 says for the A330 push the sidestick forward after main wheels touch which usually but not always stops the thud from the centre gear. which can be annoying just when you think you have done a nice landing the centre gear lands with a thud. Not mine of course but the F/O's!

[woodpecker]

Quote... If you try to hold the aircraft off the runway before touchdown the rear two wheels of each bogey touchdown smoothly with the front two coming down heavily as the speed bleeds off.


Could it not be, like the 777, as soon as the tilt switches sense the rear bogey touching the auto speedbrake deploys and kills any lift that was available to feed on the front bogey smoothly?

[White Knight]

MC - good to see you're on the ball, but most of the "skippers" I fly with seem to drive the 340 several feet into Terra Firma:\ :\
Of course, a positive derotation on the 340 usually helps - not so bad on the -500 as the -300 by the way:ok:

[RoyHudd]

The 330-300 is a nicer type to land than the -200. Less of a mushy feel in the last 200 feet, and better in a x-wind. Dunno if it's a weight issue, or simply because the -300 has different dimensions. Longer, lower fin height, different wing length, etc.etc. Didn't design either. Couldn't!

[Offchocks]

Can a 330 make an approach and landing like this:

Yehaaaa (http://teamhouse.tni.net/Misc/walkaway/good_landing.htm)

More to the point, would you want to? ;)

[Romeo Tango Alpha]

Looks like a typical Jetstar landing to me!

Hey, who's joking?

[Flap 5]

Woodpecker,

All the more reason to push that nose down quickly. However if you watch a lot of A330 landings the pilot touches down beautifully on the rear wheels of the bogey, sails down miles of runway with the nose being held off (a la Piper Cherokee) and then the front wheels of each bogey come down with a thump. Not the safest landing technique as the end of runway comes toward you!

[Virginia Plane]

A couple of 340 pilots on this thread mention about the big thud coming from contact of the centre gear. My outfit operated a 340-300 for a while with the centre gear inhibited and yet the same usual thud still occurs. The reason is believed to be that it's easy to grease the back wheels of the bogeys on (like the 330) but the main thud is actually from landing the front wheels. When you realise that you can then make out the 4 different stages of an A340 landing, ie tickle (back bogey wheels), big thud (front bogey wheels), thud (centre gear), thud (nose wheels)!